[Closing the abdominal wall - challenges and possible solutions].

The most common complications after abdominal surgery - wound infections and the development of incisional hernia - are associated with the opening and closing of the abdominal wall. Depending on the selection of patients, wound infection rates of up to 19 % and hernia rates of up to 38 % are reported. Based on a summary of the actual literature, the abdominal wall should be closed with continuous slowly absorbable sutures with a suture length to wound length ratio of over 4 using small stitches. While antiseptic suture material may help to reduce wound infections after abdominal incision, preventing the development of incisional hernia is still a unsolved problem. As there is still no standard surgical technique for abdominal wall closure, surgeons should pay greater attention to the standardisation and documentation of techniques and wound care.