title: Abdominal wound closure using a nonabsorbable single-layer technique.
abstract: A continuous 1-layer abdominal closure using number 2 polypropylene was employed in 200 unselected consecutive patients. All the patients had lower midline incisions and were high-risk, and the majority (82%) had some form of gynecologic malignancy. A significant number had received preoperative radiotherapy (22.5%), another 18% were obese (over 90 kg), and 15% had undergone bowel surgery. The complete evisceration rate in the series was 0. A total of 17 (8.5%) wound infections occurred and 10 (5%) postoperative ventral hernias were seen over a 2-year period. Five of these were incisional and 5 were paraincisional; 1 of each required surgical repair. The method is simple, time-saving, and successful; it carries a low complication rate for patients at high risk for postoperative evisceration.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006555:Hernia, Ventral / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013537:Sutures