THE ROLE OF ABDOMINAL WOUND CLOSURE TECHNIQUES IN THE OCCURRENCE OF INCISIONAL HERNIA

Abstract

The article presents the outcomes of research carried out with the aim of studying of the role of various suturing techniques in incisional hernia (IH) formation. This prospective study included an analysis of the late results of 137 patients undergoing major abdominal surgery by laparotomy. IH occurred in ten (7,3%) patients. It was identified in 4 (15,38% ) of 26 patients in the interlocking continuous suturing group and in 6 (9,68%) of 62 patients in the simple continuous with large bites suturing group. No patients had IH in the small bites group. In patients with IH the suture length (SL) to wound length (WL) ratio was lower compared to patients without hernia (2,5±0,2 and 3,03±0,06 respectively). The highest incidence (16,13%) was observed in patients with SL:WL< 3 who underwent large bites suturing techniques. Multivariate analysis based on these results identified the interlocking continuous method and large bite suture technique with SL: WL < 3 as independent risk factors, in addition to non-surgical risk factors, and determined that the small suture technique was a more effective method.