The use of intraabdominal tissue expanders as a primary strategy for closure of giant omphaloceles

BackgroundGiant omphaloceles present a unique challenge to pediatric surgeons because of the difficulty in obtaining timely, tension-free closure of tissues over the defect. Reports of the use of tissue expanders in the subcutaneous space, intramuscular space, or intraabdominal cavity have illustrated the usefulness of this technique to provide biologic closure of abdominal wall defects. However, these reports have focused on use of tissue expanders as a second-line treatment after other options, such as silastic silos or attempted primary closure, have failed.MethodsWe report 2 cases in which intraabdominal tissue expanders were used as a primary strategy to obtain closure of giant omphalocele defects.Case ReportsThe first patient was a baby boy born at 36 weeks by date who was prenatally diagnosed with a giant omphalocele. An intraabdominal tissue expander was placed at 2 weeks of age. The tissue expander was removed and his abdomen was primarily closed at 8 weeks of age. The second patient was born at 25 weeks gestation as part of a twin gestation with severe intrauterine growth retardation (600 g birth weight). Bedside reduction was not attempted because of severe pulmonary hypertension and significant loss of abdominal domain because of herniated liver and bowel. At 8 months of age, she underwent laparoscopically assisted placement of an intraabdominal tissue expander. At 9 months of age, the tissue expander was removed, all abdominal viscera were reduced, and the defect was closed using only an 8 × 8-cm piece of AlloDerm (LifeCell, Branchburg, NJ). Both children are currently at home and doing well.ConclusionsWe believe that early use of intraabdominal tissue expanders provides a more expedient method of obtaining closure of the defect in giant omphaloceles.