The management of enterocutaneous fistulas with parenteral hyperalimentation

During a period of nine years, all patients with enterocutaneous fistula who received parenteral nutrition as part of therapy were evaluated retrospectively. Twenty-three patients were studied. Peptic ulcer was the most common primary disease, with the fistula arising in 78 percent of the cases from the breakdown of an anastomosis and in the remainder from a direct trauma to the bowel. The most common site of the fistulas was the ileum followed by the duodenum. All the patients were treated conservatively with total bowel rest and parenteral nutrition, and in 56.5 percent of the cases spontaneous closure occurred within an average of 29.6 days. In five patients, the fistula failed to close, and surgery was performed. The mean surgical closure time overall 36.4 days, but this varied from 20.8 days for the duodenum to 39 days for the jejunum and ileum, and 19.7 days for the large intestine. Five patients (22.7%) died, four from sepsis, the fifth from systemic malignancy. Mortality was related to the location and output of the fistula, with jejuno-ileal high-output fistulas in particular figuring prominently in the mortality.