Curriculum · Surgery
Abdominal wound dehiscence
What it is
Wound dehiscence is a wound problem of the first week or so after a laparotomy, and at the bedside it has to be told apart from a wound infection and from an incisional hernia.
How it presents
The staff notice increasing serous discharge from the wound, on about day 7 after a laparotomy, for example after a gastrectomy. The patient reports a sudden popping sensation while coughing. On inspection of the wound there is profuse serous drainage with a bulge at the incision site, and the bulge is exacerbated by coughing.