Use of adhesive mesh in hernioplasty compared to the conventional technique. Results of a randomised prospective study

The use of meshes made with reabsorbable materials and structures that allow them to be fixed to the tissue without sutures, is considered as a therapeutic possibility in inguinal hernioplasty, reducing surgical times and supposedly improving pain and post-operative recovery. A prospective randomised study of patients intervened for inguinal hernia between March 2009 and March 2010. Those patients subjected to hernia repair with a self-adhesive mesh (Parietene Progrip(®)) were placed in the in the SA (self-adhesive) group, and those subjected to hernia repair with a polypropylene mesh fixed with a monofilament suture in the CL (Classic Lichenstein) group. Complications and pain, using the visual analogue scale, were evaluated over 7 days. A total of 90 patients were divided into 2 groups of 45. The mean age was 60 y and 49 years, respectively, with the mean size of the hernia defect being 3cm, and approximately 60% were indirect hernias. The time of fixing the mesh and the overall surgery time was lower in the SA group than in the LC group: 56s versus 3min and 52s, and 17min and 45s versus 20min and 10s, respectively. There were no differences in hospital stay, complications or post-operative pain. The use of this type of mesh reduces the time of fixing the prosthesis and the total surgical time, with no effect on early post-operative pain or surgical complications compared to hernioplasty with a polypropylene mesh fixed with a monofilament suture.