Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Incisional hernia develops in up to 20% of patients undergoing abdominal operations. We sought to identify characteristics associated with poor outcomes after acute incisional hernia incarceration. ⋯ Comparison of predicted elective repair and observed emergent repair mortality in patients with acute incarceration suggests that acceptable outcomes could have been achieved with elective repair. Almost one-half of acute incarceration patients had no earlier surgical evaluation, therefore, targeted interventions to address surgical referral can potentially result in fewer incarceration-related deaths.