Background and objective: Surgical drains are widely utilized in hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery to prevent intra-abdominal collections and identify postoperative complications. Surgical drain monitoring ranges from simple-output measurements to specific analysis for constituents such as amylase. This systematic review aimed to determine whether surgical drain monitoring can detect postoperative complications and impact on patient outcomes.
Methods: A systematic review was performed, and the following databases searched between 02/03/20 and 26/04/20: MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Clinicaltrials.gov. All studies describing surgical drain monitoring of output and content in adult patients undergoing hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery were considered. Other invasive methods of intra-abdominal sampling were excluded.
Results: The search returned 403 articles. Following abstract review, 390 were excluded and 13 articles were included for full review. The studies were classified according to speciality and featured 11 pancreatic surgery and 2 hepatobiliary surgery studies with a total sample of 3262 patients. Postoperative monitoring of drain amylase detected pancreatic fistula formation and drain bilirubin testing facilitated bile leak detection. Both methods enabled early drain removal. Improved patient outcomes were observed through decreased incidence of postoperative complications (pancreatic fistulas, intra-abdominal infections, and surgical-site infections), length of stay, and mortality rate. Isolated monitoring of drain output did not confer any clinical benefits.
Conclusions: Surgical drain monitoring has advantages in the postoperative care for selected patients undergoing hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery. Enhanced surgical drain monitoring involving the testing of drain amylase and bilirubin improves the detection of complications in the immediate postoperative period.
Keywords: General surgery; postoperative care; postoperative complications; surgical equipment.