Background: Burst abdomenis a continuing problem for thegeneral surgeon as theincidence of such complication may reach 3% with a mortality rate exceeding 25%. Methods: Component  separation  of all layers of anterior  abdominal  wall would give  an extra length on each side towards medial advancement. 20 patients, 12 men and 8 women aged 35-65 {mean, 48.6) years, with burst abdomen after major gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary surgery whose abdomen could not be   closed primarily  were managed  using this technique. Long term follow up of patients was done for development of complications. Results:   One  patient  died  on  the  fourth postoperative  day  from pulmonary  embolism {mortality  5%),  and  2  patients  developed  subincisional  abscesses  (10.5%).  Skin necrosis occurred in 1 patient  (5%). No single case of reburst occurred  Only one patient showed  few symptoms of abdominal compartment  syndrome. The mean hospital stay was 18.5 days. Long term follow up showed only one case ofincisional hernia (5.5%) in a patient with biliary fistula. Conclusion: The component separation technique is a suitable, straightforward and tension free method   with a comparable  mortality  and morbidity  to other conventional  methods  for closure of burst abdomen.