Diagnosis and treatment of complications in abdominal surgery

Abstract

Every surgeon should know that intra- and postoperative complications are inherent to any surgical act.
and therefore inevitable. Despite this, its efforts will be permanently directed to the development of strategies and
initiatives that seek to reduce its incidence as much as possible.
Without a doubt, it constitutes a topic of great interest, both for surgeons and health institutions. Besides, his
approach can be done from various perspectives. This is because the surgical complication has an impact
that goes far beyond the patient, the center of our attention and to whom we owe ourselves with total dedication, also
called the “first victim.”
The surgeon and his team are without a doubt the “second victim.” They carry much of the weight after what happened,
They are questioned and even they themselves come to question their suitability, their skill and/or their professionalism. They suffer
psychological consequences that affect their closest environment, their family ties and also impact their
work performance, which may also compromise the safety of other patients. This point will be specifically addressed in chapter 3.
Finally, there is a “third victim”, the health institution, which cannot be ignored and must guarantee resources and
efforts to ensure adequate support and containment for its personnel, so necessary in these cases, although frequently ignored. They will be a key actor, looking after their human capital, also contributing to the development of a
resilient attitude, committed to patient safety and satisfaction.
The surgeon must learn to live with complications, knowing that they can always occur, even in difficult situations.
more unexpected, in seemingly simple cases, even when you feel that you already have enough experience, being
the latter a fundamental ally when facing them.
The appearance of complications and mortality in surgery is subject to many variables. Some are specific to the patient (age, comorbidities), others are related to the pathology being treated (benign, malignant, complicated or not), the
complexity and duration of the procedure to be carried out, as well as the circumstances in which it is carried out (emergency, urgency, elective). These factors will be analyzed in detail in each of the chapters that make up this
Report, in relation to the different surgical procedures that will be discussed.