Patients in group A were compared to those from group B regarding age, BMI (Table 46.1), number of smokers, physical activity, and number of pregnancies using Student t-test, F-test, and Sturges’ test (Table 46.2). Sturges’ test was used for comparisons regarding class variance. Student t-test was used for comparisons regarding age variance. Statistical significant difference for p ≤ 0.05.

In group A, BMI ranged from 20.96 to 27.06 kg/m² at the moment of the postoperative ultrasound. In this group, four patients had lost weight and 14 patients increased weight after the surgery. In group B, these numbers varied from 21.62 to 29.49 kg/m², with two patients showing no weight variation, six patients having weight loss, and 12 patients having gained weight (Fig. 46.1).

Five small hernias were found intraoperatively and were promptly corrected: one patient from group A (6 %) and four from group B (20 %). These hernias had not been detected by the preoperative ultrasound evaluation. Surgical correction of these hernias was done by the simple approximation of the aponeurotic edges.

As regards complications, only one patient in group A had a significant hematoma within the first 24 h postoperative period, requiring a surgical revision. Two other patients from group B presented with serosanguinous collection, which was treated with serial aspirations. No other complications were noted.

Clinical examination revealed, in one patient from group B, a slight diastasis of the upper abdomen. All other patients denied any complaints of pain or discomfort along the midline while performing exercises, suggesting that there was only a single case of clinical recurrence of muscle diastasis.

In group A (5 years postoperative), all measurements of the distance between the aponeurotic edges were equal to zero after the surgery (Fig. 46.2). Two patients in group B (1 year postoperative) presented recurrence of the diastasis, in which an increase in the distance between the aponeurotic edges in the upper abdomen was noted (Fig. 46.3). This distance was 0.87 cm in one patient and 1.30 cm in the other patient. In both of them, diastasis recurred in the vicinity of the xiphoid. It was also noted with the US examination that there was a lateral insertion of the recti muscles on the costal margins. In these patients, there was a minimal bulging along the midline. However, these two patients presented no clinical complaint regarding this finding.