Abdominal Wall Reconstruction: The Rise of Endoscopic Component Separation

Abstract

Copyright: © 2012 Laffin M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Primary repair of ventral hernia defects theoretically provides superior biomechanical outcomes in patients when compared to mesh repairs [1,2]. On the other hand, synthetic mesh repairs have been shown to significantly decrease ventral hernia recurrence [3,4]. Historically, primary repair of large, midline abdominal wall hernias were consider impossible because the fascial edge was retracted laterally into the flank from shortening of the external oblique muscle [5]. The development of abdominal wall component separation has enabled the use of autologous tissue in the reconstruction of significant defects when prosthetic biomaterials are contraindicated, as is the case in contaminated wounds.