Abstract
Repair of abdominal wall defects in the presence of contamination or infection is a significant problem. The loss of tissue warrants enforcement of the abdominal wall, preferably by autologous material. However, autologous repair often requires extensive surgery. This paper presents a review of available literature of placement of an acellular human dermis to repair an abdominal fascia defect, in contaminated as well as in non-contaminated surgical fields. It is illustrated with a case report that describes the successful reconstruction of an infected abdominal wall defect with a human acellular dermis allograft. A systematic literature review was undertaken with searches performed in the Pubmed and Cochrane databases for the period up till March 2009, using the search terms Alloderm [Substance Name], Hernia [Mesh] and the key words acellular dermis, acellular dermal matrix, human acellular dermal allograft and abdominal wall defect. To assess methodological quality, each article was subjected to a modification of the methodological index for non-randomized studies (MINORS) according to Slim et al. Two items from the original index were not included because none of the studies selected had an unbiased assessment of the study end points and in none of the studies was a prospective calculation of the study size performed. Seventeen studies were included in the review. Data were extracted regarding study design, number of patients, surgical technique, followup period, contaminated or non-contaminated area of the fascia defect, mortality and morbidity (hemorrhage, seroma, wound dehiscence, infection) of the operative procedure, the longterm results (removal of the graft, reherniation and bulging) and level of evidencey. A total of 169 short-term complications and 151 longterm complications occurred after 643 surgical procedures reconstructing both contaminated and clean abdominal wall defects by implantation of an HADA. Human acellular dermal allograft seems to be a good alternative for autologous repair of contaminated or infected abdominal wall defects.