Anita Jacombs

Macquarie University · Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between bacterial biofilms and negative outcomes of hernia repair surgery. As biofilms are known to play a role in mesh-related infections, we investigated the presence of biofilms on hernia meshes, which had to be explanted due to mesh failure without showing signs of bacterial infectio...

Frequent recurrent lung infections result in irreversible lung damage in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). This study aimed to determine if toothbrushes contain biofilms of pathogens, and act as potential reservoirs for lung re-infection following antibiotic treatment of acute exacerbations. Toothbrushes were collected from children with CF of lu...

Purpose The successful repair of any complex ventral hernia requires a thorough understanding of the underlying anatomical defect and its functional context. We describe an improved “functional” approach to CT imaging of the abdominal wall that can facilitate this understanding and assist surgical planning. Methods This invited article reports the...

PurposeTo assess 7-year outcomes after complex ventral hernia (CVH) repair using pre-operative Botulinum toxin A (BTA) injection and the Macquarie System of management.Methods Clinical examination and functional non-contrast abdominal CT scans were used to assess complications and recurrences encountered in a prospective series of 88 consecutive CV...

Welcome to the Intersex and Sexuality Education special issue of Sex Education. It marks an important occasion since this is the first time that an entire issue of an education journal has been devoted to these important concerns. People born with intersex variations have atypical sex characteristics, be these chromosomal, hormonal and/or anatomica...

Incisional hernia represents a common and potentially serious complication of open abdominal surgery, with up to 20% of all patients undergoing laparotomy subsequently developing an incisional hernia. This incidence increases to as much as 35% for laparotomies performed in high-risk patients and emergency procedures. A rarely used technique for ena...

The purpose of this illustrative pictorial series is to demonstrate the value of an image technique known as 3D Volume Rendering (3DVR) for the pre‐operative visualization and assessment of complex abdominal hernias. A small subset of complex abdominal hernia cases were selected from our early clinical experience with 3DVR to illustrate the value o...

Background: Despite recent advances in the operative management of complex ventral hernia (CVH), significant challenges remain. Closure of large defects can have serious pathophysiological consequences due to chronic contraction and retraction of the lateral abdominal wall muscles. Certain features of CVH make repair technically demanding and time...

Introduction Repair of complex ventral hernia presents a significant challenge plagued by high morbidity and recurrence. Recent studies have demonstrated significant benefits achievable with preoperative Botulinum Toxin A (BTA) chemical component paralysis to the abdominal wall muscles, facilitating primary closure of complex ventral hernia defects...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to communicate two new concepts with the potential to cause major morbidity in hernia repair, effective porosity and biofilm. These 2 concepts are interrelated and have the potential to result in mesh-related complications. Effective porosity is a term well described in the textile industry. It is best defined a...

Background: Laparoscopic ventral repair is safe, with lower wound infection rates compared with open repair. 'Venetian blinds' technique of plication in combination with mesh reinforcement, is totally intra-corporeal, with hernia defect and sac plication to reduce seroma formation. While laparoscopic suturing of the abdominal wall can represent a...

Background: Component separation (CS) is a technique which mobilizes flaps of innervated, vascularized tissue, enabling closure of large ventral hernia defects using autologous tissue. Disadvantages include extensive tissue dissection when creating these myofascial advancement flaps, with potential consequences of significant post-operative skin a...

Introduction: Operative management of complex ventral hernia still remains a significant challenge for surgeons. Closure of large defects in the unprepared abdomen has serious pathophysiological consequences due to chronic contraction and retraction of the lateral abdominal wall muscles. We report outcomes of 56 consecutive patients who had preope...

Background Repair of complex ventral hernia can be very challenging for surgeons. Closure of large defects can have serious pathophysiological consequences. Botulinum toxin A (BTA) has recently been described to provide flaccid paralysis to abdominal muscles prior to surgery, facilitating closure and repair. Methods This was a prospective observati...

Purpose: The operative management of complex ventral hernia poses a formidable challenge, despite recent advances in surgical techniques. Recurrence rates after complex ventral hernia repair remain high, and increase with each failed attempt. This study examines the effect of pre-operative abdominal wall chemical component relaxation using Botulin...

Background: Biofilm infection of breast implants significantly potentiates capsular contracture. This study investigated whether chronic biofilm infection could promote T-cell hyperplasia. Methods: In the pig study, 12 textured and 12 smooth implants were inserted into three adult pigs. Implants were left in situ for a mean period of 8.75 months...

The environment has been shown to be a source of pathogens causing infections in hospitalised patients. Incorporation of pathogens into biofilms, contaminating dry hospital surfaces, prolongs their survival and renders them tolerant to normal hospital cleaning and disinfection procedures. Currently there is no standard method for testing efficacy o...

Hospital-associated infections cause considerable morbidity and mortality, and are expensive to treat. Organisms causing these infections can be sourced from the inanimate environment around a patient. Could the difficulty in eradicating these organisms from the environment be because they reside in dry surface biofilms? The intensive care unit (IC...

Capsular contracture remains the most common complication following breast augmentation surgery, and evidence suggests that bacterial biofilm on the implant surface is responsible. The authors investigated whether the interaction of bacterial biofilm with implants independently determines progression to capsule formation. They also studied the rate...

Adequate decontamination of surgical instruments plays a role in preventing transmission of infection. In 20041 we showed 100% of patient-ready endoscopes were contaminated with biofilm either in their air-water or working channels. Since then new methods of decontaminating endoscopes have been developed. In this study we have evaluated patient-rea...

Background Most of the world's bacteria live in biofilms, three-dimensional clusters attached to surfaces.Manyhospital-acquired infections are associated with biofilm infections of implantable medical devices such as orthopaedic prostheses and intravascular catheters. Within biofilms, bacteria are significantly less susceptible to antibiotics and h...

Background: This study aimed to explore and quantify the selection process to guide the decision on closure type (myocutaneous flap repair (MFR) or primary closure) for people undergoing pelvic exenteration. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database with review of hospital records for verification and capt...

A growing body of evidence implicates subclinical (biofilm) infection around breast implants as an important cause of capsular contracture (CC). The authors use an in vivo porcine model to investigate the potential of antibiotic-impregnated mesh as a prophylactic measure against biofilm formation and CC. A total of 28 implants (14 untreated control...

Despite recent attention to surface cleaning and hand hygiene programmes, multiresistant organisms (MROs) continue to be isolated from the hospital environment. Biofilms, consisting of bacteria embedded in exopolymeric substances (EPS) are difficult to remove due to their increased resistance to detergents and disinfectants, and periodically releas...

A 15-month-old boy presented in shock with a supraventricular tachycardia following a 12-h history of worsening abdominal pain and vomiting. The supraventricular tachycardia reverted to sinus tachycardia with fluid resuscitation and adenosine. He was noted to have a distended and firm abdomen. A presumptive diagnosis of intestinal ischaemia was sub...

The aim of this study was to determine the etiology, associated injuries, and outcome of children with pancreatic injuries. A retrospective review was conducted of children under 16 years with pancreatic trauma admitted to the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW) from January 1983 to September 2002. Deaths were reported to the New South Wales Paed...

cDNA sequence analysis of the X-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) gene has shown a base difference between two subspecies of the kangaroo, Macropus robustus robustus (wallaroo) and M. r. erubescens (euro). A thymine residue in the wallaroo at position 358 in exon 5 has been replaced by a cytosine residue in the euro, which accounts fo...

Models for studying prenatal drug-induced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) have, without exception, measured growth-related factors in the postimplantation embryo, fetus or neonate. Therefore, it is not known whether effects of drug exposure on growth and metabolism begin early in the preimplantation embryo, or whether IUGR is exclusively a p...