Prophylactic and informational abdominal drainage is not necessary after colectomy and suprapromontory anastomosis.

Several randomized prospective studies in western countries regarding the usefulness of prophylactic drainage have concluded that prophylactic abdominal drainage tubes are unnecessary. In Japan, however, longitudinal and vascular margins are rather different from in western countries. Furthermore, body mass index and volume of mesentery differed. Thus, although it is a retrospective study, it is worth investigating the usefulness of prophylactic drainage in the Japanese context. Two hundred sixty patients underwent colectomy and suprapromontory anastomosis. Prophylactic drainage tubes were inserted in 124 cases (47%) and not inserted in 136 cases (53%). In terms of postoperative complications, no statistically significant difference was found between the with-drainage and the without-drainage groups. The incidence of the abscess formation was not statistically different in the with-drainage group (4.0%) or the without-drainage group (0.7%). We concluded that the prophylactic and informational drainage tubes are not necessary even in Japanese cases of suprapromontory anastomosis, which typically have a wide resection and regional lymphadenectomy containing the roots of regional vessels.