Open abdomen management: single institution experience

Area of Science:

• Abdominal surgery
• Surgical techniques
• Wound healing

Background:

• Temporary abdominal closure (TAC) is crucial for managing complex abdominal pathologies.
• Comparing different TAC methods is essential for optimizing patient outcomes.
• Abdominal wall integrity is a key metric for evaluating TAC success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and compare the abdominal wall integrity outcomes between Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) and the Bogota Bag technique for TAC.
• To determine if significant differences exist in primary closure rates and time to fascial closure between the two TAC methods.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study was conducted on patients undergoing TAC between January 2005 and December 2011.
• Data were collected from clinical charts of patients who survived to definitive abdominal closure.
• A specialized surgical team managed all post-operative care and reoperations for the included patients.

Main Results:

• Twenty-eight patients were included in the analysis.
• No statistically significant difference was observed in primary closure rates (p=0.98) between VAC and Bogota Bag.
• The mean time for fascial closure also did not show a significant difference (p=0.23) between the two techniques.

Conclusions:

• Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) and the Bogota Bag technique yield comparable results concerning abdominal wall integrity.
• The consistent monitoring by a specific surgical team and the implementation of progressive closure likely contributed to the similar outcomes.
• These findings suggest that both methods are effective for TAC when managed appropriately.