Tissue expander-assisted ventral hernia repair for the skin-grafted damage control abdomen
1Division of Trauma Surgery, Hurley Medical Center, Flint, MI, 48503, USA, heartandbones@yahoo.com.
Purpose:
To describe a novel technique using tissue expanders that allows skin coverage over large ventral hernia repairs after damage control laparotomy, including patients with stomas.
Methods:
A retrospective study of a single author's experience with the technique.
Results:
Tissue expanders were placed in the lateral abdominal wall skin adjacent to stomas and expanded over a short 6-week course. The expanders successfully stretched the skin to provide coverage over the large ventral hernia mesh repairs without infectious complications.
Conclusions:
The described technique is well tolerated by patients and very useful to provide skin coverage over large ventral hernia defects without infectious complications.
