Comportamiento de las reintervenciones en cirugía general. Hospital General Docente ？Abel Santamaría？. Pinar del Río

introducction: re-operations constitute a serious object of concerns to surgeons and have encouraged multiple studies. objective: to describe the behavior of the re-operations in the surgical service. method: a descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study choosing the re-operated patients in the service of surgery at "abel santamaria cuadrado" university hospital during 2006-2007. pinar del rio. age, sex, and indication to perform the re-operation, period of time between the initial operation and the re-operation, number of re-operations and cause of death were the variables taken. the target group included the patients who underwent major surgeries (3128) and the sample comprised 108 patients requiring re-operations. percentage terms were used as a statistical method and the results showed in tables. results: 69, 38% belonged to male sex, 59, 2 % of the patients were in the seventies. mechanical intestinal occlusion and lithiasis prevailed as emergencies 67, 34%. the 57, 41% of the re-operations were performed seven days after the initial surgery. the main causes of re-operations were: residual peritonitis (34, 87%), intra-abdominal collections (18,07%) and dehiscence of suture (14,71%). as the numbers of re-operations increased the mortality rate of the re-operated patients also increased (43,52%). conclusion: as early the diagnosis of an intra-abdominal complication is performed and as rapid the decision of re-operations is made, complications will diminish and survival rates possibilities will augment.