A prospective, randomized trial of abdominal wound drainage in gastric bypass surgery.

A prospective, randomized trial was conducted in 194 morbidly obese patients who had gastric bypass to determine the effect of subcutaneous closed suction drainage on wound infection rates. There was no difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infection with the use of drains compared with simple abdominal closure. Organisms isolated from infected wounds were predominantly skin flora and did not differ between the two groups. Patients with wound infections had significantly prolonged hospitalizations compared with those without infections, but in the subgroup with wound infections there was no difference in hospitalization time between the drainage or control groups.