1 Mar 2015Case Report
Recurrent incisional hernia, enterocutaneous fistula and loss of the substance of the abdominal wall: plastic with organic prosthesis, skin graft and VAC therapy. Clinical case
Sara Nicodemi 1Sergio Corelli 1Marco Sacchi 2Edoardo Ricciardi 3Annarita Costantino 1Pietro Legge 2Francesco Ceci 1Benedetta Cipriani 1Annunziata Martellucci 1Mario Santilli 1Silvia Orsini 1Antonella Tudisco 1Franco Stagnitti 1
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Department of Urgency University Surgery, “A. Fiorini” Hospital, Terracina, Italy
2 Department of General Surgery, “S. Maria Goretti” Hospital, Latina, Italy
3 Department of General, Oncologic and Transplantation Surgery, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Ann. Ital. Chir., 2015, 86(2), 172-176;
Published: 1 Mar 2015
Copyright © 2015 Annali Italiani di Chirurgia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Surgical wounds dehiscence is a serious post-operatory complication, with an incidence between 0.4% and 3.5%. Mortality is more than 45%. Complex wounds treatment may require a multidisciplinary management. VAC Therapy could be an alternative treatment regarding complex wound. VAC therapy has been recently introduced on skin’s graft tissue management reducing skin graft rejection. The use of biological prosthesis has been tested in a contaminated field, better than synthetic meshes, which often need to be removed. The Permacol is more resistant to degradation by proteases due to its cross-links. Surgery is still considered the best treatment for digestive fistula. A 58 years old obese woman come to our attention, she was operated for an abdominal hernia. She had a post-operatory entero - cutaneous fistula. She was submitted to bowel resection, the anastomosis has been tailored and the hernia of the abdominal wall has been repaired with biological mesh for managing such condition. She had a wound dehiscence with loss of substance and the exposure of the biological prosthesis, nearly 20 cm diameter. She was treated first with antibiotic therapy and simple medications. In addicition, antibiotic therapy was necessary late associated to 7 months with advanced medications allowed a small reduction’s defect. Because of its, treatment went on for two more months using VAC therapy. Antibiotic’s therapy was finally suspended. The VAC therapy allowed the reduction of the gap, between skin and subcutaneous tissue, and the defect‘s size preparing a suitable ground for the skin graft. The graft, managed with the vac therapy, was necessary to complete the healing process.
Keywords
- Biological prosthesis
- Enterocutaneous fistula
- Incisional hernia
- Skin graft
- VAC therapy