[Causes of postoperative death in pediatric surgery--a comparative analysis of 3 decades]

Causes of postoperative deaths at our clinic from 1949 to 1982 were analysed. The most important results were: the overall lethality of the patients operated on was 1.5%; in 1985, however, it was only 0.19%. Infection was with 27.7% the predominant cause of postoperative death in all patients, followed by pneumonia with 20.3% and death from the underlying disease with 18.8%. Combining the groups infection and pneumonia, it turns out that nearly one-half (48%) of the children succumbed to infectious diseases. Classification of the causes of postoperative deaths in 5 different age groups revealed that more than a half of the deaths occurred in the neonatal period and 20% still in infancy. Furthermore, particularly newborn and infants died from postoperative infection. From 1976-1982 no child beyond the 4th year of life succumbed to an infection or pneumonia. The analysis presented is based on post-mortem protocols. From 1970 on-ward post-mortem examination was performed in 80% of the children who had died.