One hundred and nineteen patients with gastrointestinal fistulas

One hundred and nineteen patients with gastrointestinal fistulas were treated in the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, in the period from January 1960 to January 1970. None of these patients was hyperalimented. The mortality in this seris amounted to 15%; 78.2% of the patients had their fistulas closed. These results are correlated with primary disease, etiology, fistula output, fistula location, type of treatment, malnutrition, electrolyte disturbances and sepsis. In the discussion it is concluded that treatment based on sound surgical principles acquired in the past decades, with the support of modern techniques of intensive patient care, should considerably diminish mortality and improve closure rate.