Gavioli M, Rosi A, Piccagli I, Zenezini Chiozzi A, Bernardelli D, Lazzaretti M G, Castellani Tarabini C, Serafini P L, Romani M
Divisione di Chirurgia, Ospedale Civile, Italie.
J Chir (Paris). 1996 Nov;133(7):317-9.
Use of prostheses in emergency surgery is a controversial issue due to the risk of infection. We report our experience with a series of 31 strangled hernias treated in emergency situations with a polypropylene (n = 29) or a vinyl (n = 2) sheath placed in a pre-peritoneal or retro-muscular position. There were three small bowel resections and 13 resections of the omentum for necrosis. There were no cases of infectious complications during the post-operative period. There were no recurrent hernias during the follow-up. The absence of any supplementary morbidity after emergency prosthesis is in agreement with the data in the literature. These results suggest that a prosthesis can be proposed for strangled hernias when the weakness of the parietal wall would compromise a conventional procedure. Excluded are cases with severe infection, including peritonitis by gangrenous perforation of an incarcerated loop and associated colonic resections.
