Introduction.

The objective of this study was to evaluate if the damage control laparotomy with ligation and delayed intestinal reconstruction (DR), in patients with peritonitis secondary to compromised hollow viscera, reduces the number of ostomies.

Methods.

All patients under 18 years of age who entered the clinic with suspected non-traumatic peritonitis and who underwent laparotomy between January 2003 and December 2018 were included. Sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, severity scales physiological, intestinal reconstruction techniques and clinical results were evaluated.

Results.

A total of 306 patients were included, divided into three groups: 1) 120 (39.2 %) underwent resection and anastomosis, 2) 87 (28.4 %) underwent ostomy, and 3) 99 (32.3 %) underwent initial to intestinal ligation. Patients undergoing intestinal ligation presented greater physiological compromise upon admission to the intensive care unit, with an APACHE II score: 14 (interquartile range, IQR= 10-18) in group 1, 13 (IQR = 11-18) in the group 2, and 18 (IQR = 14-24) in group 3 (p<0.01). However, more than half were reconstructed in the following laparotomy: mechanical anastomosis (16/99; 16.1 %), manual anastomosis (49/99; 49.5 %), ostomy (34/99; 34.3 %). Also, they had a significantly greater number of new laparotomies, and of days of mechanical respiratory assistance, of stay in the intensive care unit and of hospital stay. There were no statistically significant differences in mortality between the subgroups: group 1= 19 (15.8 %), group 2= 16 (18.4 %), group 3= 19 (19.2 %) (p= 0.79).

Conclusion.

In this study, it was possible to avoid the ostomy as the definitive reconstruction technique in more than half of the patients with peritonitis who underwent damage control laparotomy with intestinal ligation.

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