Aim: There have been increasing reports in the literature highlighting the complication of V-loc® associated small bowel obstruction in patients after laparoscopic ventral rectopexy.
Methods and results: 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.
Conclusion: 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.
Keywords: Barbed suture; bowel obstruction; complications; ventral rectopexy.
Colorectal Disease © 2015 The Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.