Introduction: The clinico-radiological characteristics and the natural history of postoperative omental infarct (OI) in patients who underwent distal pancreatectomy (DP) and splenectomy have not been defined.
Materials and methods: Twelve patients who underwent DP over a period of 2 years and were postoperatively diagnosed with OI based on computed tomography (CT) findings were identified.
Results: A total of 12 patients were diagnosed with an OI based on their postoperative imaging. Seven (58.3 %) patients had previously undergone laparoscopic DP, one (8.3 %) had undergone a robotic DP, and in one (8.3 %), a laparoscopic DP was converted to an open procedure. The remaining three (25.1 %) were treated with open DP. In five (41.6 %) patients, the diagnosis of OI was made during routine follow-up. One patient underwent surgical resection of OI, and two had drains placed in the mass. Nine patients were managed conservatively. During the study period, on review of CT imaging, the minimum prevalence of postoperative OI after DP was found to be 22.8 %. A review of literature identified nine articles that reported a total of 34 patients who were diagnosed with OI after abdominal surgery.
Conclusion: The management of an asymptomatic postoperative OI should be conservative while an early invasive intervention should be performed in patients who are symptomatic or have infected OI.
Keywords: Complications of pancreatic surgery; Distal pancreatectomy; Laparoscopic surgery; Omental infarct; Pancreatic surgery; Postoperative complication.