Effect of intra-abdominal hypertension on the strength of the postoperative scar of a laparotomic wound

Abstract

Annotation. One of the main factors of postoperative eventration is intra-abdominal hypertension, which occurs in various surgical pathologies of the abdominal cavity. Despite the presence of a large number of scientific papers on the negative effect of intra-abdominal hypertension on the morphological state of granulation tissue in the area of the laparotomy wound, there are no publications on the impact on the strength of the postoperative scar. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate in an experiment on small laboratory animals the effect of intra-abdominal hypertension on the mechanical strength of the postoperative scar of a laparotomy wound. The experiment was performed on 120 laboratory rats, which underwent a median laparotomy and brought together the edges of the musculoaponeurotic layer of the anterior abdominal wall with simple nodal sutures. The main group consisted of 72 animals who developed intra-abdominal hypertension by inserting a container (condom) with a certain amount of Furacilin into the abdominal cavity. The comparison group consisted of 48 animals who had an empty condom inserted into the abdominal cavity after laparotomy. The mechanical strength of the postoperative scar of the laparotomy wound was determined by the method of G. V. Petrovich (2010) on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th day after the creation of intra-abdominal hypertension, by measuring the level of intra-abdominal pressure at the time of rupture of the postoperative scar of the laparotomy wound. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and a package of statistical processing software PAST. Differences between study groups were determined using Mann-Whitney criteria. The results of the study indicate that the created intra-abdominal hypertension leads to a decrease in the mechanical strength of the postoperative scar of the laparotomy wound. The degree of the negative impact of intra-abdominal hypertension on the strength of the postoperative scar is inversely proportional to the level of intra-abdominal pressure.