Systematic review and meta-analysis of the repair of potentially contaminated and contaminated abdominal wall defects.

BACKGROUND: Repair of contaminated abdominal wall defects entails the dilemma of choosing between synthetic material, with its presumed risk of surgical site complications, and biologic material, a costly alternative with questionable durability.

DATA SOURCES: Thirty-two studies published between January 1990 and June 2015 on repair of (potentially) contaminated hernias with ≥25 patients were reviewed. Fifteen studies solely described hernia repair with biologic mesh, 6 nonabsorbable synthetic meshes, and 11 described various techniques. Surgical site complications and hernia recurrence rates were evaluated per degree of contamination and mesh type by calculating pooled proportions.

CONCLUSIONS: Analysis showed no benefit of biologic over synthetic mesh for repair of potentially contaminated hernias with comparable surgical site complication rates and a hernia recurrence rate of 9% for biologic and 9% for synthetic repair. Biologic mesh repair of contaminated defects showed considerable higher rates of surgical site complications and a hernia recurrence rate of 30%. As only 1 study on synthetic repair of contaminated hernias was available, surgical decision making in the approach of contaminated abdominal wall defects is hampered.