Results of intensive care in abdominal surgery patients

A one-year follow-up of 300 consecutive critically ill abdominal surgery patients treated in an intensive care unit is presented. 77 patients (26%) died during intensive care. By the end of the follow-up period altogether 139 patients (47%) had died from the primary disease. Almost all patients who died after intensive care, did so within the first month. The majority of the survivors (124 patients) recovered completely, most of them within six months after intensive care. Only 22 patients remained incapable of their previous work, and five became permanently disabled. Mortality rates were at their lowest in diseases of the pancreas (34%), the stomach and duodenum (43%) and of the liver and gall bladder (44%), if cirrhosis with ruptured oesophageal varices is excluded; here the mortality was highest, 76%.