Wound protectors for improved exposure in open hernia repair.

INTRODUCTION: Achieving adequate surgical exposure is fundamental to good surgical practice. Traditionally, in the repair of ventral and open inguinal hernias, this has been accomplished with the aid of self-retaining retractors or by extending the incision length. We propose that using disposable wound protectors, surgical exposure will be improved for a given incision length in the repair of ventral and open inguinal hernias, compared to traditional methods.
METHOD: Through the use of an animal tissue model, we compared incisions of varying lengths and measured the dimensions of the exposure achieved with disposable wound protectors (Alexis™) and a Mollison self-retainer. We calculated the surface area and, therefore, exposure gained using the specified wound retraction devices and compared the results.
RESULTS: The average superficial surface area of wound with a self-retainer compared to the small and extra-small disposable wound protector was 2.65 cm2 vs 2.27 cm2 (small) and 2.2 cm2 (extra-small) for 2 cm incision length, 3.6 cm2 vs 4.93 cm2 and 4.2 cm2 for 3 cm incision length, 5.19 cm2 vs 8.25 cm2 and 6.27 cm2 for 4 cm incision length, 6.17 cm2 vs 12.25 cm2 and 9.07 cm2 for 5 cm incision length, and 8.75 cm2 vs 16.73 cm2 and 10.78 cm2 for 6 cm incision length [p = 0.038 (small) and p = 0.049 (extra-small)]. Our results show a statistically significant increase in surface area of a wound for each incision length when a disposable wound protector was used for exposure, compared to a self-retainer.
CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that the use of disposable wound protectors provides superior surgical exposure for a given incision length compared to traditional techniques in the repair of ventral and open inguinal hernia repairs.