Long-term complications of laparotomy in Hodgkin's disease

The authors determined the incidence of complications in 133 patients who had undergone staging laparotomy with splenectomy before treatment for Hodgkin's disease (stages I-IV).

Medical records were reviewed, and the patients or their relatives were interviewed. Median follow-up after laparotomy was 15.7 years (range = 2.5-28 years).

Ten episodes of overwhelming postsplenectomy infection (OPSI) were documented in nine patients (6.8%). None of 25 patients who received pneumococcal vaccine before splenectomy developed OPSI. Patients with advanced (stages III-IV) or recurrent Hodgkin's disease were at higher risk of OPSI than those with early disease, and those who received combined modality oncologic therapy were at greater risk than those receiving less intensive treatment. Surgical complications included small bowel obstruction in 13 patients (9.8%), necessitating repeat laparotomy in 9 patients (6.8%), atelectasis in 17 patients, abscess in 3 patients, and 1 wound dehiscence. No deaths occurred as a result of surgical complications. Causes of death in the 29 patients who died included Hodgkin's disease (12 patients), acute treatment-related morbidity (1 patient), leukemia (5 patients), bone marrow failure (3 patients), solid malignancy (2 patients), intercurrent disease (4 patients), unknown causes (1 patient), and OPSI (1 patient).

With presplenectomy pneumococcal vaccination and modern surgical techniques, the long-term risks of laparotomy with splenectomy are acceptable if knowledge of the pathologic extent of abdominal Hodgkin's disease would alter treatment regimens.