Are we burying our heads in the sand? Preventing small bowel obstruction from the V-loc® suture in laparoscopic ventral rectopexy.

Abstract

There have been increasing reports in the literature highlighting the complication of V-loc® associated small bowel obstruction in patients after laparoscopic ventral rectopexy. Using clinical and experimental evidence, we demonstrate that bowel obstruction from the V-loc® following laparoscopic ventral rectopexy will still occur despite the technical recommendations to bury or cut its barbed end flush. The risk of bowel obstruction from the V-loc® following laparoscopic ventral rectopexy is not negated by burying or cutting its barbed end flush. We have proposed its pathogenesis to refute commonly held assumptions about its prevention.