title: A novel technique for reconstruction of the abdominal wall in the prune belly syndrome.
abstract: There is currently widespread enthusiasm for abdominal wall reconstruction in patients with the prune belly syndrome. We have devised an operation that appears to offer some advantages over those proposed by Ehrlich and Randolph. The technique preserves the umbilicus, and thickens and strengthens the anterior abdominal wall. By narrowing the waist, it also produces a better cosmetic appearance. After full thickness resection of a varying amount of skin from the central abdomen, the anterior wall is sutured in double-breasted fashion, thus, preserving all vascularization and the umbilicus. Since 1969 we have successfully performed this procedure on 9 prune belly patients including 1 girl. The results were excellent in terms of duration and cosmetic appearance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Timone, Hôpital des Enfants, Marsielle, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Monfort
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guys
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bocciardi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coquet
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chevallier
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011535:Prune Belly Syndrome / Q000601:surgery*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000379:methods