A novel technique for reconstruction of the abdominal wall in the prune belly syndrome

There is currently widespread enthusiasm for abdominal wall reconstruction in patients with the prune belly syndrome. We have devised an operation that appears to offer some advantages over those proposed by Ehrlich and Randolph. The technique preserves the umbilicus, and thickens and strengthens the anterior abdominal wall. By narrowing the waist, it also produces a better cosmetic appearance. After full thickness resection of a varying amount of skin from the central abdomen, the anterior wall is sutured in double-breasted fashion, thus, preserving all vascularization and the umbilicus. Since 1969 we have successfully performed this procedure on 9 prune belly patients including 1 girl. The results were excellent in terms of duration and cosmetic appearance.