What are the risk factors for anastomotic leak following colorectal surgery?
Identifying specific preoperative and intraoperative risk factors can help stratify patients at high risk for anastomotic leak following colorectal surgery, guiding decisions such as proximal diversion.
Histologic resection margin involvement in disease process in patients with IBD, preoperative albumin levels lower than 3.5 g/dL, intraoperative blood loss of 200 mL or more, operative time of 200 minutes or more, and/or intraoperative transfusion requirement increased AL risk. Enteral nutritional optimization prior to elective surgery is essential. Proximal diversion should be considered for patients with all 3 intraoperative risk factors because they are at high risk for AL.
Dana A. Telem (Thu,) studied this question.
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