Reconstruction of abdominal wall of a chronically infected postoperative wound with a rectus abdominis myofascial splitting flap.
BACKGROUND
If a chronically infected abdominal wound develops, complications such as peritonitis and an abdominal wall defect could occur. This could prolong the patient's hospital stay and increase the possibility of re-operation or another infection as well. For this reason, a solution for infection control is necessary. In this study, surgery using a rectus abdominis muscle myofascial splitting flap was performed on an abdominal wall defect.


METHODS
From 2009 to 2012, 5 patients who underwent surgery due to ovarian rupture, cesarean section, or uterine myoma were chosen. In each case, during the first week after operation, the wound showed signs of infection. Surgery was chosen because the wounds did not resolve with dressing. Debridement was performed along the previous operation wound and dissection of the skin was performed to separate the skin and subcutaneous tissue from the attenuated rectus muscle and Scarpa's fascial layers. Once the anterior rectus sheath and muscle were adequately mobilized, the fascia and muscle flap were advanced medially so that the skin defect could be covered for reconstruction.


RESULTS
Upon 3-week follow-up after a rectus abdominis myofascial splitting flap operation, no major complication occurred. In addition, all of the patients showed satisfaction in terms of function and esthetics at 3 to 6 months post-surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Using a rectus abdominis myofascial splitting flap has many esthetic and functional benefits over previous methods of abdominal defect treatment, and notably, it enabled infection control by reconstruction using muscle.
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Sung Kyu
SK
Bae
Seok Joo
SJ
Kang
Jin Woo
JW
Kim
Young Hwan
YH
Kim
Hook
H
Sun
Abdominal wound closure techniques; Rectus abdominis; Wound infection