title: A shorter skin incision technique for the repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effectiveness of a shorter skin incision technique for the treatment of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether or not the difference in the length of the skin incision contributed to an early recovery after the operation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between October 2001 and December 2004, we performed 105 elective repairs for AAA. The patients were divided into three groups according to the length of the skin incision as follows: group A, less than 15 cm, group B, from 15 cm to less than 20 cm, and group C, 20 cm or more.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference in the intraoperative course among the three groups. The duration of paralytic ileus was shorter in group A than in group C (2.0 +/- 0.9 days versus 3.2 +/- 2.3 days; P = 0.0428). Although the periods before removal of nasogastric suction and before starting a solid diet were slightly shorter in group A than in groups B and C, there were no statistically significant differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We define minimally invasive vascular surgery as surgery performed with a small abdominal skin incision that does not expose the intestine to air while providing a good operative field that does not place any undue stress on the surgeon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka, 830-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hiromatsu
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Egawa
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hosokawa
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokokura
authors.forename: Atsuhisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery*; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*