• Abbas M Hassan, Malke Asaad, Allison J Seitz, Jun Liu, and Charles E Butler.
• Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
• J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2021 Dec 1; 233 (6): 676-684.

BackgroundPatients with contaminated/dirty-infected defects are at high risk for postoperative complications after abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR). We evaluated outcomes of AWR using acellular dermal matrix (ADM) for mesh reinforcement and identified predictors of hernia recurrence (HR), surgical site occurrences (SSOs), and surgical site infections (SSIs).Study DesignWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent AWR using ADM, from March 2005 to June 2019. Outcomes were compared between Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wound classifications. The primary outcome measure was HR. Secondary outcomes were SSOs and SSIs.ResultsWe identified 725 AWRs using ADM that met the study criteria. Participants had a mean age of 60 ± 11.5 years, mean BMI of 31 ± 7 kg/m2, and mean follow-up time of 42 ± 29 months. Three hundred two patients (41.6%) had clean defects, 322 patients (44.4%) had clean-contaminated defects, and 101 patients (13.9%) had contaminated/dirty-infected defects. Patients with contaminated/dirty-infected defects had an HR rate of 20.8%, SSO rate of 54.5%, and SSI rate of 23.8%. Multivariate logistic regression found that contaminated/dirty-infected defects were independent predictors of SSOs (OR 2.99; 95% CI 1.72-5.18; p < 0.0001) and SSIs (OR 2.32; 95% CI 1.27-4.25; p = 0.006), but not HR (OR 1.06; 95% CI 0.57-1.98; p = 0.859).ConclusionsSSIs and SSOs increase as contamination levels rise, but the risk of HR does not. AWR with ADM provides safe and durable outcomes, even with increasing levels of contamination.Copyright © 2021 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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