title: Ventral hernia repair in a potentially septic milieu.
abstract: Repair of the abdominal wall is the last stage of abdominal surgery; pariet complications, particularly infection, can have serious impact on operative results. While abdominal wound infections are not universally preventable, they are often predictable; the aphorism of Jean Rives (Stoppa, 1999 [1]) summarizes this sequence: "Infection is the mother of postoperative incisional hernia and infection of the incisional hernia repair is the grand-daughter". Repair of the abdominal wall in a potentially septic milieu requires the solution of an equation involving four variables: mechanism of sepsis, its severity, the surgical approach, and choice of prosthetic material. These interdependent variables potentiate each other, requiring adaptations of surgical strategy that cannot be absolutely determined pre-operatively, even with collegial consultation.
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie digestive et métabolique, hôpital Nord, CHU d'Amiens, 80054 Amiens cedex 1, France. verhaeghe.pierre@chu-amiens.fr
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verhaeghe
mesh_terms: D006555:Hernia, Ventral / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*