Benefits of intra-abdominal pack placement for the management of nonmechanical hemorrhage
J. Saifi, J. B. Fortune, L. Graca and D. M. Shah
Department of Surgery, Albany Medical College, NY 12208.
Massive nonmechanical bleeding following severe liver injury is a difficult
problem. Placement of intra-abdominal packs tamponades this nonmechanical
bleeding and allows time for correction of various metabolic disturbances
(ie, hypothermia, hypotension, acidosis, and coagulopathy). The purpose of
this retrospective study was to evaluate the severity of these metabolic
disturbances at the time of pack placement and the sequential improvement.
It was found that most life-threatening disturbances that developed during
the initial operative procedure could be corrected within 18 hours after
pack placement and aggressive resuscitation. We concluded that the onset of
nonmechanical bleeding and a coagulopathy marks a grave prognosis for the
patient, and consideration should be given at this time for pack placement.
Patients can then be aggressively resuscitated and returned to the
operating room within 24 hours for pack removal if stability is achieved.
