[Diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic aspects of typhoid intestinal perforations in Dapaong, Togo].

PURPOSE: This study's aim is to describe the diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic aspects of typhoid intestinal perforations (TIP) at the Dapaong regional hospital (Togo).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study covered all patients with such perforations seen and managed in the Dapaong regional hospital's general surgery department during the 3-year period of 2009-2011.

RESULTS: There were 110 patients with TIP during the study period, and they accounted for 67.9% of the patients treated for generalized peritonitis (162 cases). Their mean age was 10.2 years. The sex-ratio was 1.4. A single perforation was present for 69 patients (62.7%) and multiple perforations for the other 41 (37.3%). Sixty (54.5%) patients underwent simple closure, 36 (32.8%) had an ileal resection and enteroanastomosis, and 14 (12.7%) had loop or double-barrelled ileostomy. The postoperative course was complicated in 26 cases (23.6%), most often by surgical site infection, seen in 19 patients (17.3%). Overall, 23 patients died during the postoperative period, for a mortality rate of 20.9%.

CONCLUSION: Typhoid intestinal perforations are the most common cause of generalized peritonitis at the Dapaong regional hospital. Most patients have only a single perforation, which is repaired by excision-suture. Their morbidity and mortality rate are high.