Preventing fat liquefaction of abdominal incision following cesarean section:application of a new negative pressure drainage device

Objective To evaluate the application of negative pressure drainage device in the prevention of fat liquefaction of abdominal incision following cesarean section.Methods 246 pregnant women with high risk factors for fat liquefaction of abdominal incision were selected as treatment group.A transfusion apparatus tube was inserted between the anterior rectus sheath and subcutaneous fat as a suction drain at incision closure,as the continuous negative pressure was kept by a 20 mL syringe.Another 272 patients with the same high risk factors were enrolled in control group simultaneously,received a conventional incision closure without the drain.The incidence of fat liquefaction and healing time of abdominal incision were observed.Results Significantly higher incidence of fat liquefaction,and longer healing time of abdominal incision and hospital stay were observed in control group(P 0.05).There was no significant difference in the incidence of fat liquefaction between longitudinal incision and transverse incision in treatment group;while longitudinal incision complicated with significantly higher incidence of fat liquefaction in control group(P 0.05).The risk factors of fat liquefaction included obesity,thick subcutaneous fat,diabetes,hypoproteinemia,moderate or severe anaemia,abdominal surgery history and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.However,there was no significant difference in incidence of fat liquefaction in patients with abdominal surgery history or hypertensive disorders in pregnancy between the two groups.Conclusion The new negative pressure drainage device is effective in preventing fat liquefaction of abdominal incision after cesarean section.