Doctors at Barcelona hospital restore and recover functionality of abdomen in world first

In a world first, Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau has successfully reconstructed and fully restored the functionality of the abdomen of cancer patients and patients with otherwise damaged abdomens.

The reconstruction procedure not only restored the structure of the muscle but also the functionality of the abdominal wall, which had been injured by another muscle of the patient. 

Four of the five patients operated on so far have fully recovered the functionality of the abdomen.

For patients who could not undergo surgery or for whom surgery would have reduced their quality of life, the intervention involved palliative treatment.

Doctors from Hospital Sant Pau say it is the best reconstructive option for patients who need very large resections of the abdominal wall, due to a sarcoma or complications from previous surgeries or trauma.

The treatment option significantly reduces the risk of post-operative complications and allows patients to recover a high quality of life, and is worked one by numerous teams in the hospital, including the plastic surgery unit, general surgery, anesthesiology, and nursing.

Until now the reconstruction of the abdominal wall was only structural, without recovering the functionality. Once the tumor was removed, a mesh was placed to hold the internal organs and the area was covered with skin.

Dr. Manuel Fernández-Garrido, deputy of the Sant Pau plastic surgery service, explained to members of the press that the operation normally meant the loss of muscle which holds the organs in place and which is essential for any natural movement, like getting up from a chair for example.

Patient are also normally exposed to postoperative complications such as fistulas, chronic infections, hernias or fluid accumulation, and the complications are especially serious for cancer patients who have to follow radiotherapy treatment after abdominal reconstruction.

With this new intervention from Hospital Sant Pau, restoring the function of the muscle, tissue from the patient is used, with vessels and nerves, so that it no longer wastes away and is more resistant to radiotherapy.

Doctors who carried out the procedure say they could operate with this technique on three to four patients a year.

Maria Rosa Vergés was the first patient operated on with this technique, an operation carried a year ago.

"They told me that they would take muscle from my back and put it in my abdomen. I joke that I had a freckle on my back and now I have it on my abdomen," she told reporters on Wednesday, adding that her muscle is now "perfect."