Complications from staging laparotomy for Hodgkin disease

Nonspecific complications from staging laparotomy are usually related to general anesthesia or abdominal exploration. Specific complications for the procedure do exist: intubation difficulties during administration of anesthesia to patients with untreated mediastinal disease, sepsis in up to 20% of patients, depending on stage of disease and intensity of postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy, arterial and possibly venous thromboemboli from extensive retroperitoneal node dissection, pancreatitis, small bowel obstruction from adhesions to node biopsy sites, operative mishaps, subphrenic abscesses, and bleeding from liver biopsies. Certain patient subpopulations are at especially high risk for some of these complications and their identification and possible measures to minimize such problems are proposed.