Characteristics of acute gynecological-obstetric surgical abdomen in a public hospital in Paraguay (2015-2020)

Abstract

Introduction: The acute gynecological-obstetric abdomen is one of the most challenging problems in medical practice and in some situations it endangers the lives of patients.

Objective: Determine the characteristics of the gynecological-obstetric surgical acute abdomen at the Ciudad del Este Regional Hospital during the period 2015 to 2020.

Materials and methods: Observational, descriptive, retrospective study, with non-probabilistic sampling. All patients with acute surgical abdomen who were admitted to the gynecology-obstetrics service were studied during the period from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2020. The data were analyzed in the Stata 12.0® software.

Results: 375 patients were studied, of which 51% had obstetric causes, 40% had gynecological causes, and 9% had non-gynecological-obstetric causes. It was evident that 55% were between 20 and 35 years old, with 84% coming from urban areas. Complicated ectopic pregnancy was 46% of cases. 38% of the complications presented sepsis and 35% hypovolemic shock. Surgical complications in the puerperium were recorded: Endometritis/peritonitis was 47% and hysterography/wall abscess dehiscence was 33%. 7% of the patients were referred to the intensive care unit.

Conclusion: Obstetric-gynecological surgical acute abdomen is more common in middle ages, obstetric causes predominate. Among the etiologies, ectopic pregnancy is the most common. Acute appendicitis continues to be among the obstetric causes of pregnant women with viable fetuses. Septic symptoms and hypovolemic shock predominate among the complications. In the puerperium, endometritis and peritonitis. And finally, a percentage considered to require intensive care was recorded.