Background:

“Prophylactic drainage” is a drain system left into a space to drain any collections that could stay after surgery. Indications are so much discussed.

Material and methods:

To update the information on this concept, we conducted a descriptive review since 1980 to November 2016 identifying articles related to drainage in abdominal surgery.

Results:

It was not possible to perform a meta-analysis of second order for not being sufficiently similar. The different surgical techniques on intra-abdominal organs were analized.

Discussion:

The use of “prophylactic” abdominal drainage dates since there is evidence of the practice of medicine and is now even used routinely. Various studies show that it is not necessary to drain the abdominal cavity in digestive surgery except in surgery of esophageal and subsequent exploration of bile ducts where there is little described. The use of drainage of the abdominal cavity may contribute to the infection of surgical site and increased hospital stay among other complications.