The Medical clinics of North America
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This article addresses controversial issues in the field of intra-abdominal sepsis with particular attention to major changes in management that have evolved during the past decade. In the area of diagnostics, scanning techniques have revolutionized the ability to detect loculated collections, although many of these techniques are of limited value in the early stages of inflammation. The greatest debate concerns the relative merits of scanning techniques; the author's choice is CT scans with contrast, although ultrasonography is preferred in patients who cannot be transported and is probably preferred for pelvic infections. ⋯ Nevertheless, surveys of practicing surgeons indicate that most actually combine this oral preparation with parenteral agents as well. The final controversy concerns percutaneous drainage, which has now become a standard technique for dealing with intra-abdominal abscesses in 50% to 90% of cases. This controversy has sometimes been seen as a territorial battle between surgeons and radiologists, and most cases are clearly the prerogative of one discipline or the other, but many are in a gray zone in which clearly defined indications are not readily available.