BACKGROUND: Management of the open abdomen (OA) is challenging for surgeons and requires experienced medical teamwork. The need for improvements in temporary abdominal closure methods has led to the development of a negative-pressure therapy (NPT; ABThera OA NPT, KCI USA, Inc, San Antonio, TX). METHOD: The authors present a 19-patient case series documenting their use of NPT for OA management in nontraumatic surgery. All received NPT until the fascia was considered ready for closure. RESULTS: Of 19 patients, 17 (89.5%) achieved fascial closure with a Kaplan-Meier (KM) median time to closure of 6 days. Mean hospital and intensive care unit stays were 32.1 and 26.6 days, respectively. During their hospitalization, 5 patients (26.3%) died, with a KM median time to mortality of 53 days. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate effective use of NPT for managing the OA in critically ill patients, and this has led the authors to use it in their general surgery practice.
BACKGROUND: Management of the open abdomen (OA) is challenging for surgeons and requires experienced medical teamwork. The need for improvements in temporary abdominal closure methods has led to the development of a negative-pressure therapy (NPT; ABThera OA NPT, KCI USA, Inc, San Antonio, TX). METHOD: The authors present a 19-patient case series documenting their use of NPT for OA management in nontraumatic surgery. All received NPT until the fascia was considered ready for closure. RESULTS: Of 19 patients, 17 (89.5%) achieved fascial closure with a Kaplan-Meier (KM) median time to closure of 6 days. Mean hospital and intensive care unit stays were 32.1 and 26.6 days, respectively. During their hospitalization, 5 patients (26.3%) died, with a KM median time to mortality of 53 days. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate effective use of NPT for managing the OA in critically ill patients, and this has led the authors to use it in their general surgery practice.
Authors: Sven Richter; Stefan Dold; Johannes P Doberauer; Peter Mai; Jochen Schuld Journal: Gastroenterol Res Pract Date: 2013-10-28 Impact factor: 2.260