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

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/m 2 (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 cm 2 (range 2–150 cm 2 ), 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 cm 2 (150–600 cm 2 ). 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.