Local and surgical management of enterocutaneous fistulas

Intensive nutritional treatment is now recognized as the single most important factor in achieving closure of enterocutaneous fistulas, replacing attempts at early surgical closure. Operation in the early stages of management should be confined to the drainage of abscesses, the defunctioning of diseases or disrupted bowel and the formation of feeding enterostomies. In those few cases where spontaneous closure of the fistula does not occur, definitive surgical operation can be carried out when malnutrition has been corrected. The combination of nutritional treatment, skin protection and judicious surgery can reduce the mortality to below 10 per cent.