Postoperative complications after surgery for typhoid perforation in children in Ghana

One of the most severe complications of typhoid fever is perforation of the ileum (TPI); it is also a cause of high morbidity and mortality in endemic areas. After surgery for TPI, other complications may set in postoperatively, compounding the problem. A prospective study of 121 children who were operated upon for TPI to identify the postoperative complications showed that the most common was wound infection. The most serious were: mechanical intestinal obstruction, abdominal dehiscence, and enterocutaneous fistulae. Physicians caring for such children should be aware of these complications and their mode of presentation so as to quickly and decisively manage them to prevent more deaths. Accepted: 8 April 1998