What is gastrointestinal perforation

Gastrointestinal perforation is a perforation of the gastrointestinal tract. This disease is related to Helicobacter pylori infection. After the disease occurs, there will be symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. The onset is relatively acute. Overeating can easily induce gastrointestinal perforation, and severe cases may lead to death. Therefore, we must have a comprehensive understanding of gastrointestinal perforation and provide timely treatment when discovered. So, what is gastrointestinal perforation? Let’s take a look below.

Perforation of gastric and duodenal ulcers often occurs in the anterior wall, and the diameter of the perforation is generally 0.5 cm. At the same time as perforation, the gas and contents in the stomach and duodenum flow into the abdominal cavity, causing pneumoperitoneum and acute peritonitis. Chronic perforation often occurs in the posterior wall, penetrating the anterior serosa and adhering to nearby tissues and organs. Sometimes, although the ulcer is very deep, the contents do not flow into the abdominal cavity. Because the small intestinal curves are close to each other, fibrin is deposited after perforation, and they adhere to each other so that the perforation is quickly closed. There is less gas in the small intestine, so less small intestinal contents flow out and pneumoperitoneum is less likely to occur. The clinical characteristics are sudden onset and symptoms of peritoneal irritation.

Its pathogenesis may be related to the erosion of the gastric and duodenal mucosa by pepsin and gastric acid, which causes the mucosal defense function to be weakened, leading to Helicobacter pylori infection.

Treatment principles:

1. Traditional laparotomy treatment method:

Open surgery will cause large traumatic incisions during the repair process. The accumulated fluid in the intestines and pelvic cavity is difficult to completely remove, which increases the postoperative healing time and the possibility of wound infection. It is also easy to cause complications after surgery, seriously affecting the patient's quality of life after surgery.

(II) Laparoscopic treatment:

Compared with traditional open surgery, laparoscopic surgery has many obvious advantages:

1. During the operation, the laparoscope can accurately detect the perforation location, thus avoiding blind laparotomy. The laparoscope has a large exploration range and can effectively explore the parts that cannot be explored by laparotomy. It can fully understand the location of the patient's lesion and is conducive to the complete cure of ulcer perforation.

2. Laparoscopic repair surgery causes smaller incisions, less bleeding during the operation, less trauma to the patient, and is beneficial to the patient's postoperative recovery;

3. Laparoscopic technology has smaller incisions, which effectively avoids direct exposure of organs to the air during surgery, reduces the occurrence of postoperative complications such as intestinal obstruction and intestinal adhesions. The pneumoperitoneum established during surgery can increase the field of vision in the abdominal cavity, fully and thoroughly remove intra-abdominal exudates, clean and absorb exudates under the diaphragm on both sides and deep in the pelvic cavity, and avoid postoperative abdominal infection.