Emergency treatment of wounds of the colon

Colonic wounds vary greatly in their severity and the number of concomitantly injured organs. Relatively few colonic wounds are single; these can usually be treated by primary repair. The approach to colonic wounds generally must be selective and take into account the degree of associated shock,contamination, and surrounding tissue damage. Judicious application of the wide variety of technical approaches available today has increased the incidence of primary repair to over 50% and has reduced mortality to 10% to 15%.