Key result
Abbreviated laparotomy, while useful for trauma, requires selective application in emergency general surgery due to older, septic, and comorbid patients in South Africa.
Highlights the need for selective application of damage-control laparotomy in emergency general surgery patients, who differ significantly from trauma patients.
Abbreviated or "damage-control" laparotomy, originally developed for care of severe exsanguinating trauma, is increasingly applied to emergency general surgery (EGS). The two papers in this "debate series" are timely and practical, given South Africa's high surgical burden and variable resources, both for trauma and non-trauma.¹,² Unlike trauma patients, EGS patients are often older, septic, and comorbid, with delayed presentation. These differences necessitate selective application rather than direct adoption of trauma protocols.
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Moeng et al. (2025) studied this question. Abbreviated laparotomy, while useful for trauma, requires selective application in emergency general surgery due to older, septic, and comorbid patients in South Africa.
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