Drains have become an integral part of the current surgical practice, irrespective of the specialty, the most common binding factor is the placement of drains. They act as a medium through which excess bodily fluids are drained that may hamper the generalized function of the body. They also act as exit medium for the passage of various blood products, pus, or act even act as an early indicator for impending morbidity or even mortality. However, their negative effects also continue to increase. There is a growing demand to study the actual benefit of drains whether they should be used so rampantly. Studies carried out overtimes have focused on individual systems such as Drain or no drain in colorectal surgeries however a collective assessment regarding abdominal surgeries as a whole has not been done. Hence this study has been carried out to study the impact of placement of prophylactic surgical drains on the post-operative recovery period on patients of major elective abdominal surgeries. Results - In our study carried out on 90 patients, the post-operative recovery period inpatient with drain placement was 22.20±9.61 days with 42% of patients them between 21-30 days. In comparison to non- drain group which was 17.22 ±8.49 days with 35% of patients seen a non-drain group between 11-20days.The p-value < 0.5 and was not significant. Conclusion – Drain placement has neither any advantage or disadvantage on the post-operative recovery period in major elective abdominal surgeries.
