[The effect of different lengths and placements of median laparotomy incision on wound dehiscence in the rat].

BACKGROUND To assess the effect of different lengths and placements of median laparotomy incision on wound dehiscence in the rat. METHODS Eighty female Wistar rats were divided into 8 groups of 10 rats each. Groups underwent median laparotomy with different incision lengths (2, 3, 4, 6 cm) at two sites (upper and lower abdomen). Pneumoperitoneum was established in all rats using an insufflator on postoperative day 3. When gas leakage through the wound with an instantaneous decrease in intraabdominal pressure was noticed, these values were recorded as dehiscence pressure. In addition, the time until wound breakage was recorded. The different incision groups were compared. RESULTS After excluding 4 rats for various causes, statistical analysis was performed on the remaining 76 rats. When the different incisional lengths were compared, there were no significant differences in dehiscence pressures and time (p>0.05). Similarly, there were no significant differences between the incision groups according to upper or lower abdominal wall site of incision (p>0.05). CONCLUSION Midline abdominal wall incisions of different lengths and placements (upper or lower abdomen) have similar dehiscence pressures against the pneumoperitoneum in the early postoperative period (p>0.05).