Introduction: No universal consensus exists on the management of intraperitoneal anastomosis leakage after colonic surgery. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of laparoscopic reintervention without stoma creation for intraperitoneal leaks after colonic surgery.
Material and methods: Single tertiary center study conducted from January 2010 to December 2020. 54 patients with intraperitoneal leakage were divided into 2 groups according to whether they received a stoma (n = 37) or not (n = 17) during laparoscopic reintervention. Short term outcome was analyzed.
Results: Patients in the no stoma group had lower American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score (P = .009), lower Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (5 vs. 10; P < .001) compared with the stoma group. Intensive care unit admission (43.2% vs. 5.8%; P = .006) and major complications (35.1% vs. 5.8%; P = .015) occurred more in the stoma group compared to the no stoma group. After multivariate logistic regression analysis, initial surgical procedure (P = .001) and APACHE II score (P = .039) were significant predictors of no stoma. The APACHE II score(P = .035) was an independent predictor of major complications. Finally, Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis showed that the cutoff value of APACHE II score for no stoma was 7.5.
Conclusions: In our study, APACHE II score was an independent predictor of stoma formation and the cutoff value of APACHE II score for no stoma was 7.5. Our results need to be confirmed by larger and randomized studies. In particular, a specific APACHE II threshold to omit a stoma in this setting remains to be determined.
Keywords: colonic surgery; intraperitoneal anastomotic leak; laparoscopic reintervention; stoma.