Negative pressure therapy in combination with mesh-mediated fascial traction in the treatment of infected pancreatic necrosis. A new therapeutic option.

BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis represents one of the most frequent digestive pathologies worldwide, which can be complicated as an infected necrotizing acute pancreatitis, that may require treatment with necrosectomy and open abdomen with the risk that this leads to the appearance of intestinal fistula and giant incisional hernias difficult to manage.

CLINICAL CASE: A 35-year-old woman underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis, which was re-admitted due to jaundice and abdominal pain 3 days after her hospital discharge. Diagnostic laparoscopy is performed, where a 3200 cc biliperitoneum secondary to a cystic duct stump leak is located and drained. Likewise, an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is performed, with extraction of an impacted bile gallstone in the distal common bile duct. It presents as a complication of the procedure an acute post-ERCP pancreatitis with infected pancreatic necrosis. Open pancreatic necrosectomy was performed with a negative pressure therapy and mesh-mediated fascial traction, achieving resolution of the infectious condition with definitive closure of the abdominal cavity without incisional hernia or postoperative intestinal fistula.

CONCLUSION: Patients with complicated acute pancreatitis with infected pancreatic necrosis represent a challenge in their treatment due to the serious nature of the condition and the morbidity associated with it. A therapeutic option is presented with the combined use of negative pressure therapy (ABThera™) and mesh-mediated fascial traction. With this report we propose a potential line of research to determine its role in the treatment of these patients, as well as their possible advantages and complications.