External abdominal intestinal anastomosis: a damage control procedure

There is a saying in common surgical practice, “A skilled surgeon can be judged by his anastomosis”. Most often in many clinical scenarios, surgeons face tremendous challenge to make decision in case of high risk anastomosis. Our experience in Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH), Bangladesh suggests that the outcome in most of such patients is usually catastrophic. We were looking for years for a problem solving tool in such circumstances. External abdominal intestinal anastomosis (EAIA) is a good solution to this problem. In this research, a new modality of intestinal anastomosis is going to be presented with clinical and statistical analysis. The surgical technique, indication, contraindication, pattern and other clinical & surgical aspects of the EAIA have been described in this paper. A case series of 17 patients of high risk intestinal anastomosis with this new technique is represented here. Statistical analysis suggests that this is a problem solving tool and a damage control procedure in many critical surgical circumstances.