Incidence of wound dehischence and factors causing wound dehiscence in patients undergoing laparotomy in a newly established surgery department at a tertiary care hospital.

Objective: Wound dehiscence is a major complication of laparotomy procedure. It is more common in emergency procedure as compared to elective procedures. This wound dehiscence results in increase in both morbidity and mortality. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of General Surgery, Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore. Period: January 2022 to December 2022. Material & Methods: All the patients undergoing laparotomy were included in this study through non randomized purposive sampling after their consent. Total of 86 patients were included in this study. Results: The mean age of patients were 35.66 ± 15 years. The mean BMI was 19.99±4.201 Kg/m2. Among these patients emergency procedures were performed in 23 (26.7%) while elective cases were 63 (73.2%). Incidence of wound dehiscence was 3.03%. Percentage of wound dehiscence was more in emergency procedure as compared to elective 8.7% versus 1.6% respectively. Conclusion: On the basis of this study we conclude that the wound dehiscence is more in patients treated in the emergency as compared to elective procedures. Wound dehiscence occurred more commonly among patient that had low BMI, anemia, malignancy, hypoproteinemia and peritonitis.