Current management of diffuse peritonitis - is postoperative continuous lavage still a relevant method of choice?

Diffuse peritonitis is a serious disease with rather poor therapeutic results. Management traditionally consists in the surgical treatment of its etiology, combined with targeted antibiotic therapy and complex intensive care of the patient. The basic procedure includes the identification and treatment of the origin of peritonitis, followed by thorough abdominal cavity toilet, lavage and drainage. There are currently two major procedures for carrying out complex surgical care of a patient suffering from diffuse peritonitis. The first one is primary sanation of the abdominal cavity, in which toilet, peroperative lavage and postoperative drainage is performed. The second procedure involves similar steps, but postoperative irrigation with saline or another solution is performed, usually over 2448 hours - continuous lavage. Both procedures, albeit often modified, are still used in most surgical departments in the Czech Republic; therefore, we decided to compare them in terms of morbidity, mortality and hospital length of stay.

We conducted a prospective randomized study involving 55 patients with peritonitis operated on from 10/2012 to 4/2014. Whenever possible, we tried to use both methods alternately method regularly to enable randomization and ensure presentable outcomes.

No statistically significant difference related to morbidity, mortality and hospital length of stay was recorded in our group.

Based on our results, we can state that both methods are equal and suitable for all types of diffuse peritonitis without any impact on mortality, morbidity and hospital length of stay. Key words: peritonitis - drainage peritoneal lavage.