BACKGROUND: Management of the open abdomen in @entity130 and nontrauma @entity1 is difficult, and some areas of controversy remain. @entity344 are serious complications that are associated with significant mortality. We present our method for management of @entity1 with open abdomen and also present a logical technique of subsequent repair of the @entity4037 that uniformly occur in these @entity1 . METHODS: From January 1992 to December 2001, nine @entity1 with open abdomen underwent successful immediate closure with bilateral bipedicle anterior abdominal skin flaps. The major points of this technique of abdominal closure are coverage of abdominal viscera with absorbable mesh and mobilization of the skin and subcutaneous tissue on both sides of the abdominal wound to cover the absorbable mesh. All @entity1 had uneventful recovery and also had subsequent @entity4037 . Repair of the @entity4037 was performed several months later by inserting a large sheet of nonabsorbable mesh under the rectus abdominis muscles that form the neck of the @entity4037 bilaterally. This technique of @entity4037 repair is also called retrorectus prosthetic mesh repair. RESULTS: Five @entity1 and four @entity1 were entered into the study. The age ranged from 22 to 53 years (median, 35 years). Seven @entity1 suffered from blunt and penetrating @entity130 and two @entity1 suffered from nontrauma causes. All @entity1 with immediate closure of the open abdomen had uneventful recovery. @entity4037 (diameter, > 10 cm) occurred in all @entity1 . The time from closure of the open abdomen to subsequent repair of the @entity4037 ranged from 7 to 48 months (median, 14 months). Follow-up after hernia repair ranged from 1 to 72 months (median, 9 months), and we have seen no evidence of recurrence. CONCLUSION: Immediate closure of the open abdomen with bilateral bipedicle anterior abdominal skin flaps is an effective technique for dealing with such potentially complicated problems. Management of @entity4037 with retrorectus prosthetic mesh repair is theoretically reasonable and, so far, no recurrence has been observed in our @entity1 .

Immediate closure of the open abdomen with bilateral bipedicle anterior abdominal skin flaps and subsequent retrorectus prosthetic mesh repair of the XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['women', 'patients', 'men'] @entity4037 :: ('MESH:D006555', 'Disease') :: ['late giant ventral hernias', 'Late giant ventral hernias', 'giant ventral hernias', 'ventral hernia'] @entity344 :: ('MESH:D005767', 'Disease') :: ['Gastrointestinal fistulas'] @entity130 :: ('MESH:D014947', 'Disease') :: ['trauma']
@entity4037 :: (MESH:D006555,Disease) :: ['late giant ventral hernias']
