Pain after surgery

Pain after major surgery is normal. Through the incisions and the subsequent normal inflammatory reaction, nerve endings are irritated, causing the pain. However, the pain should subside with time.

Various methods can be used to reduce the pain after the surgery. These include pain pumps that deliver anesthetics to the area around the spinal cord. These pumps can be used to stop the pain from spreading.

If strong pain occurs during the healing process, this can be a sign of an infection of the intestinal suture. In this case, surgery must be performed again and the wound infection treated. However, pain can also be caused by flatulence or constipation, which also puts pressure on the intestinal suture. In order to prevent this, food intake is started very carefully after the operation.

Complications of the surgery

The most important complications during operations are basically injuries to surrounding structures. Depending on the position of the operated intestinal segment, different structures can be injured. These include the ureters, i.e. the connections between the kidneys and the bladder, which can easily be overlooked and represent very fine structures.

In addition, the spleen is at risk during surgery, as it is a sensitive organ that is very well supplied with blood. If the capsule is injured, there is heavy bleeding. In this case, the spleen must be removed.

A further complication is the injury of blood vessels. If small blood vessels are injured, they can be sclerosed. If larger blood vessels are damaged, the bleeding can reach dangerous proportions under certain circumstances.

The most important complication, which only becomes apparent after the operation, is anastomosis insufficiency. This term means that the connection between the intestinal sections is not tight and germs can escape into the abdominal cavity. The result is a dangerous infection.

In this case, surgery must be performed again and the infected tissue removed and a new intestinal suture placed. In this case, a protective ileostoma is created to protect against further complications. This means that an artificial intestinal outlet is created from the small intestine. This means that the excretions no longer have to pass through the problematic section.