Postoperative Outcome of Thoracotomy in Children

Türkyılmaz Z, Sönmez K and Karabulut R

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Gazi Medical Faculty, Turkey

^*Correspondance to: Zafer Turkyrlmaz 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.1086

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to examining the complications of thoracotomy and the factors affecting these complications in children.
Materials and Methods: The records of the patients who had undergone thoracotomies performed in our clinic between 1998 and 2015 were retrospectively evaluated for age, gender, operation duration, additional anomaly, diagnosis, type of wound and incision, complications, type of analgesia, pulmonary lesions, nutritional status of the patients, and removal time of thoracic tube. Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson Chi-square tests were used in statistical analyses. P <0.05 was considered significant.Results: 103 thoracotomies were performed. The gender distribution was 63% males and 37% females, with a mean age of 37.1 months (1 day-16 years). The cases were esophagus atresia (n=40), thoracic hydatid cyst (n=21) and other thoracic lesions (n=14). The mean operation duration was 115 minutes (40-240 min.). Thirty-two wounds were clean; 64 were clean-contaminated; and 7 were contaminated. The main complications were atelectasis and wound infection. The postoperative analgesic applications were intravenous (iv) dipyrone in 42 cases, local prilocaine in 3 cases, local bupivacaine in 6 cases, epidural catheterization in 20 cases, local prilocaine - iv dipyrone in 17 cases, and local bupivacaine -iv dipyrone in 15 cases.Conclusion: After pediatric thoracotomies, the incidence of surgical infections is 16% and the pulmonary functions of the patients are often declined. Operation time under 90 minutes and use of local anesthetics for postoperative pain, preferably through epidural procedures, might decrease the risk of pulmonary complications.

Keywords

Thoracotomy; Children; Complications

Cite the article

Turkyrlmaz Z, Sonmez K, Karabulut R. Postoperative Outcome of Thoracotomy in Children. Clin Surg. 2016; 1: 1086.