[Iatrogenic colorectal perforations--review of cases of the last twenty years].

The experiences with the surgical therapy of 31 patients treated for iatrogenic colorectal perforations during twenty years (1979-1998) are reviewed by the authors. The factors leading to perforation and applied types of operations compared with the therapeutical methods suggested by the literature are summarized. For the treatment of immediately detected instrumental perforations of the well cleaned colon the justification of the suture and primary resection is stressed. The overall lethality, the operative mortality and the rate of perioperative complications were 9.7%, 6.7 and 36.7% respectively.