Long-Term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Repair of Ventral Hernia with Intraperitoneal Polypropylene Mesh

Hernias of the anterior abdominal wall are common cases general surgeons come across in their daily clinical practice. The current standard practice involves reinforcing the defect with a prosthetic mesh. With the advent of laparoscopy, the safety profile of intraperitoneal-uncoated polypropylene mesh has come under the scanner. In this study, we looked at long-term complications in terms of recurrence, clinically significant bowel adhesions causing obstruction, and enterocutaneous fistulization associated with the use of intraperitoneal polypropylene mesh. This is a retrospective study carried out on patients with ventral hernia operated with laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh repair with uncoated polypropylene mesh between January 2011 and December 2016. We included 223 patients in the study with a mean follow-up of 69.9 months. In our study, we had 3 (1.3%) patients with recurrence, 3 (1.3%) patients with subacute bowel obstruction, and 1 (0.4%) patient with chronic pain. None of the patients had enterocutaneous fistulization or chronic discharging sinuses. None of the patients with intestinal obstruction needed surgery for relieving the obstruction. The use of intraperitoneal polypropylene using the laparoscopic onlay mesh repair technique is safe and long-term complications in terms of recurrence, intestinal obstruction, and enterocutaneous fistula are minimal and acceptable.