Laparoscopic management of recurrent ventral hernia: an experience of 222 patients.

Dey, S; Parthasarathi, R; Sabnis, S C; Jain, R; Praveen Raj, P; Senthilnathan, P; Rajapandian, S; Palanivelu, C

BACKGROUND To evaluate the predisposing factors and characteristics of recurrent ventral hernia (RVH) along with the feasibility and outcome of laparoscopy in managing RVH. METHODS This study is a retrospective analysis of all patients with reducible or irreducible, uncomplicated RVH who underwent surgical management from January 2012 to June 2018. RESULTS Out of 222 patients, 186 (83.8%) were female, and 36 (16.2%) were male. The mean age was 54.1 ± 10.1 years; an average body mass index was 31 kg/m2 (19-47.9). The most common previous abdominal operations among female patients were cesarean sections (43.5%) and abdominal hysterectomy (36.6%). Most of the patients had a history of open mesh repair (43.7%) and open anatomical repair (36.9%). The median time of recurrence was 4 years (1-33 years). The median defect size was 10 cm2 (range 2-150 cm2), and 73% defects were in the midline. Total 181 of 222 (81.6%) patients underwent laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh plus (L-IPOM+), 19 (8.5%) laparoscopic-assisted IPOM+, 17(7.7%) laparoscopic anatomical repair, while remaining 5 (2.3%) patients required open mesh reconstruction. The median size of the composite mesh used was 300 cm2 (150-600 cm2). The mean operating time was 145 (30-330) min, and median blood loss was 15 (5-110) ml. The median hospital stay was 3 days, and median follow-up period was 37 months. The post-operative symptomatic seroma rate was 3.1%, and re-recurrence rate was 1.4%. CONCLUSION Obesity, old age, female sex, previous lower abdominal surgeries, and previous open repair of a hernia are factors associated with recurrence. Laparoscopic repair is feasible with excellent outcome in most of the patients.