Major Abdominal Surgical Complications : Innovative Approaches

In this thesis the focus was on three major complications after abdominal surgery: incisional hernia (IH), prolonged postoperative ileus (PPOI), and colorectal anastomotic leakage (CAL). The results were summarized in three parts:
Part 1 focused on prediction and detection of these surgical complications;
Part 2 describes different methods to prevent complications;
Part 3 analyzed also prevention of major surgical complications with a focus on patients at risk.

Even anno 2017 it is still necessary to explore new strategies to prevent complications in abdominal surgery. Also with new surgical techniques, for example the use of staplers for colorectal anastomosis, prevention of CAL is still an issue. In addition, early detection of a complication is necessary to prevent from worse. This also requires more attention and research since detection of leakage is still mainly based on clinical observation and the experience of the surgeon. Research on more advanced technical and/ or digital solutions to objectively assess and quantify leakage and other complications is strongly needed. Therefore in this thesis the focus was to develop different strategies that may facilitate prevention, prediction, and diagnosis of different important abdominal surgical complications such as colorectal anastomotic leakage, postoperative ileus, incisional hernia, and infectious complications.