The bottom end: Handling of the perineal wound after abdominoperineal resection

There are a number of options for handling the perineal wound following abdominoperineal resection, including open packing or primary closure with suction drainage. Open packing has not been widely accepted, fearing that it may delay perineal wound healing. The purpose of this paper, therefore, was to retrospectively evaluate the experience at Ferguson Hospital with abdominoperineal resection from 1977 through 1986. The study population consisted of 288 patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection for rectal adenocarcinoma. Forty-six patients had the perineal wound closed primarily and 242 had the perineal wound packed open. Ninety-four patients had the pelvic peritoneum left open and 194 underwent closure of the pelvic peritoneum. Overall operative mortality was 2.1 per cent, and there was no significant difference between primary closure and open packing of the perineal wound with respect to hospital stay, operating time, operative blood loss, perioperative mortality, incidence of postoperative bowel obstruction, incidence of postoperative complications, or average time for perineal wound healing. Therefore, it would appear that packing the perineal wound following abdominoperineal resection is a viable means of handling the bottom end.