Fistulas of the gastrointestinal tract. Experience with eighty-one cases

Eighty-one cases of gastrointestinal fistulas are reported. Sixty-seven of these fistulas occurred postoperatively, all of them external, and fourteen occurred spontaneously, all but one internal. Fifty-two patients were treated conservatively and twenty-nine underwent operation, with an overall mortality rate of 23.4 per cent. It is noted that the presence of severe intraperitoneal infection and a high location of the fistula were associated with an unfavorable prognosis, with mortality rates of 31.4 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively.