A NEW PROCEDURE FOR ABDOMINAL WOUND CLOSURE AFTER PEDIATRIC LIVER-TRANSPLANTATION - THE SANDWICH TECHNIQUE

Primary wound closure cannot always be achieved after pediatric liver transplantation (LTx). This may be due to lack of intraabdominal space from postanhepatic small bowel edema or oversized grafts despite part ial LTx. For those instances we developed the ''sandwich'' technique. This procedure incorporates advantages of previous techniques with som e additional advantages described herein. Use of polyglactin 910/silic one meshs in a sandwich fashion allows for one-stage permanent abdomin al closure without major loss of body plasma fluids after pediatric LT x. So far our clinical experience with this technique has been very sa tisfying.