Background: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) is caused by a pressure-volume dysregulation of the intra-abdominal contents, causing an abnormal increase in the intra-abdominal pressure. Hemodynamic compromise, multi organ dysfunction and death may occur. This life threatening condition indicates an urgent surgery to enable temporary decompression of the abdominal cavity until the primary injury has healed. The "Bogota-Bag" (BB) technique is a tension-free method which covers the abdominal contents with a sterilized fluid bag. Although widely published data exists in adults, we found only solitary cases in children.
Methods: All Pediatric cases that underwent temporary abdominal closure were reviewed.
Results: Between January 2000 and August 2014, 17 patients had a BB placed. Our cohort included 14 patients. Surgical indications were: multitrauma (6 cases), chronic disease complications (3), and acute disease complications (5). Indications for placement were :a need for re-exploration (6 cases), inability for primary abdominal closure (4), and high risk for ACS development (4). Median BB time was 5 days. Bacteremia upon admission was evident in 5 patients, abdominal cultures were positive in 7 cases. Median Intensive care length of stay (LOS) was 10 days, hospital LOS was 27 days.
Discussion: This report represents the largest series of children treated with BB. The technique is simple to perform, inexpensive, with minimal complications and shows good recovery. Our opinion is that the procedure is suitable for all ages, and can be used for a variety of indications without major complications.
