Urgencias quirúrgicas abdominales en pacientes oncológicos

Acute abdomen was diagnosed in 12 patients, 4 male and 8 female, with a mean age of 47 years (range: 11-74). All patients had previously diagnosed malignancies, and the acute abdominal complications were related to the primary tumor, metastases, or treatment with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or surgery. The symptoms were pain, abdominal distention, vomiting, and anemia, among others, with a duration of 2-60 days. The diagnoses at surgery were acute appendicitis (1 case), duodenal perforation (1 case), suture dehiscence (1 case), gastric perforation with colonic fistula (1 case), duodenal obstruction (2 cases), and malignant intestinal obstruction (6 cases). The primary neoplasms were cervical carcinoma (6 cases), rectal cancer (2 cases), colon cancer (1 case), gastric carcinoma (1 case), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (1 case), and mixed retroperitoneal liposarcoma (1 case). The outcomes were 5 patients alive (41.7 %), with an average hospital stay of 16.6 days (range: 1-30 days), and 7 deaths (58.3 %), with an average of 19.4 days (range: 1-60 days). The surgical techniques, complications, dilemmas regarding surgical decisions, and importance of prompt diagnosis for prognosis are discussed. Four representative cases are also described.