Primary closure of the abdominal wall after "open abdomen" situation

"Open abdomen" is a strategy used to avoid or treat abdominal compartment syndrome. It has reduced mortality both in trauma and non-trauma abdominal catastrophes but also has created a challenging clinical problem. Traditionally, open abdomen is closed in two phases; primarily with a free skin graft and later with a flap reconstruction. A modern trend is to close the abdomen within the initial hospitalization. This requires multi-professional co-operation. Temporary abdominal closure methods, e.g. negative pressure wound therapy alone or combined with mesh-mediated traction, have been developed to facilitate direct fascial closure. Components separation technique, mesh reinforcement or bridging of the fascial defect with mesh and perforator saving skin undermining can be utilized in the final closure if needed. These techniques can be combined. Choice of the treatment depends on the condition of the patient and size of the fascia and skin defect, and the state of the abdominal contents. In this paper we review the literature on the closure of an open abdomen and present the policy used in our institution in the open abdomen situations.