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Percutaneous drainage of abdominal abscesses: are large-bore catheters necessary?
M A Röthlin1, O Schöb, H Klotz
1Department of Surgery, Zürich University Hospital, Switzerland.
Objective:
To find out whether small-bore catheters (7 F) are as effective as the 14F sump drains generally used for drainage of abdominal abscesses.
Design:
Retrospective review.
Setting:
University hospital, Switzerland.
Subjects:
64 patients with intra-abdominal abscesses.
Interventions:
40 were drained with 7F pigtail catheters and 24 by 14F sump drains.
Results:
Drainage was successful in 34/40 (85%) and 20/24 (83%), respectively. There were 3 recurrences in the small-bore and 1 in the large-bore group (p=0.4). Mean drainage time was 8 (SD 5) days and 11 (SD 11) days, respectively (p=0.29). One patient (3%) developed a complication in the small-bore group and 2 (8%) in the large-bore group. 4/6 failures in the small-bore group and 1/4 failures in the large-bore group were pancreatic abscesses.
Conclusions:
We conclude that percutaneous drainage with small-bore catheters is as effective as drainage with bigger tubes.