A Step-Up Approach to Infected Abdominal Fluid Collections: Not Just for Pancreatitis

More than 145,500 abdominal abscesses occur annually in the U.S. Percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) is the primary treatment for clinically significant intra-abdominal collections (IACs), but only approximately 90% of all IACs are treatable with PCD. This leaves a significant number of patients facing long courses of management, including multiple interventions. Minimally invasive debridement techniques are now employed regularly for the treatment of infected necrosis caused by acute pancreatitis. We describe the use of minimally invasive videoscopic debridement techniques employed as part of a "step-up" approach to resolve IACs of other etiologies that are unresponsive to PCD. Data of all patients undergoing this procedure at a tertiary referral academic center from 2015 to 2017 after failure of different PCD techniques were analyzed retrospectively. Four men and two women, mean age 54.6 years (range 26-70 years), with refractory IACs (mean drainage time 91.3 days; mean number of drainage procedures 4.6) following a variety of surgical interventions and inflammatory conditions underwent either video-assisted retroperitoneal debridement or sinus tract endoscopic debridement with a rigid or flexible endoscope. Technical success was achieved in all cases, and clinical success was observed in five cases. No immediate procedural complications were detected. The mean hospital stay and post-procedure drainage times were 5.5 and 25.2 days, respectively. There were no recurrent IACs. Minimally invasive debridement techniques can safely resolve IACs refractory to standard PCD techniques. Employment of these techniques as part of a step-up approach may reduce the morbidity and duration of drainage for the thousands of patients treated annually who have refractory IACs, whatever their etiology.