Temporary abdominal closure with the vacuum pack technique: a 5-year experience.

UNLABELLED: The vacuum pack technique is used increasingly for temporary abdominal closure. This paper communicates the related experience of the authors.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The charts of 74 patients who underwent temporary abdominal closure with the vacuum pack technique between January 2000 and December 2005 were reviewed retrospectively. The demographic characteristics, mortality rates and long-term complications were analysed.

RESULTS: The vacuum pack was inserted 139 times to 74 patients who required temporary abdominal closure. The mortality rate was 60% (45/74). Survivors and non-survivors did not differ significantly with respect to etiology (traumatic vs. non-traumatic), age, number of re-laparotomies, hospital stay, type of closure (primary or with a graft). The frequency of primary fascial closure was 45%. The frequency of incisional hernia was 50% in the patients who underwent primary closure and 10% in those who underwent graft placement (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Temporary abdominal closure with the vacuum pack is a simple and inexpensive technique. Primary fascial closure is possible in approximately half of the cases ; however, the frequency of incisional hernia is high.