The outcome of A. Double mesh intraperitoneal repair for complex ventral hernia: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Complex ventral hernia is a challenging surgical entity, commonly attended with huge defect, loss of domain and possible soft tissue infection. It is difficult to repair, especially with multiple recurrences. Numerous methods of repair have been described with no evidence-based data available to prefer one method over the other. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term outcome of the proposed new modification of intraperitoneal mesh repair procedure in complex ventral hernia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective analysis utilizing the prospectively-maintained dataset in our institution during the study period between January 2003 and June 2017. Patients who fit the inclusion criteria of having a complex ventral hernia, whether de-novo or recurrent and were subjected to A. Double Mesh Intraperitoneal Repair (ADMIR) procedure were included in the study. Patients were followed up till recurrence or lost to follow through a period ranging from 6 to 174 months (mean: 142.96 ± SE: 11.91).

RESULTS: Forty-nine cases were included in this study (38 females and 11 males) with a female to male ratio of 3.5:1. The age range was from 28 to 81 years (mean 49 ± 12.4). BMI range from 25 to 42 (mean 33.6 ± 5.42). The ratio between the hernia sac volume and abdominal cavity volume was more than 20% in 12 patients (24.5%), who were subjected to preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum (PPP) for an average period of two weeks. Hernias were recurrent in 28 cases (57%) and associated comorbidities were observed in 29 patients (63%). Postoperative complications occurred in 19 patients (38.7%), among them only 2 patients developed recurrence (4%) after a mean follow up period of 142 months. Five patients were lost to follow and were included in the Kaplan and Meier survival analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: ADMIR procedure is successful for the repair of complex ventral hernias as it is applicable to all sites of ventral hernias. The mesh is tension free hidden within the abdomen allowing for early mobilization and the complications rate is acceptable with low recurrence rate.