[Covering of a thoraco-lumbar defect by omentoplasty]

With a case of thoraco-lumbar defect, the authors discuss about different procedures to cover it. In this place, the better procedure is certainly the latissimus dorsi flap, in all combinations. The indication for omentoplasty at this spinal site should not be performed by first intention but by exclusion of other procedures, as in the case considered by the authors. It was a 37-year-old man, paraplegic from the age of 16, with a deep chronic spinal wound, secondary to sepsis of a posterior segmental fixations. A staphylococcus aureus infection which developed as a surgical complication was initially treated with antibiotics and surgical cleaning procedures without removing instrumentation. However, the infection remained active and the material was finally removed. Spinal immobilisation was strengthened by external fixation. The area was cleared of all suspect material, including bone graft, leaving a wide back-wound open to the spine. Spontaneous healing was first attempted, but the size and the chronicity of the wound led us to use pedicled greater omentum to close the defect. The omentum was pedicled on the right gastroepiploic vessels and transferred to the back wound through the posterior abdominal wall muscles, next to the right kidney. This procedure allows rapid healing. In association with suitable antibiotics, it has prevented any recurrent infection after 18 months of follow-up. It was no feasible to cover the wound with a latissimus dorsi flap, considering the importance of this muscle in the movements of a paraplegic and considering the initial impossibility of removing the external fixation.