Synthetic Mesh for Large Ventral Hernia Repair Correlated with Evaluation of Quality-of-life A 5 years retrospective study

Ventral hernia mesh repair is considered a standard procedure in most countries and widely accepted as superior to primary suture repair. We conducted a 5 years retrospective observational study on large and giant incizional hernia repair in our Clinics. 176 consecutive patients who had a ventral hernia repair with mesh implant in 2012-2016 were evaluated in terms of demographic characteristics, comorbidities, surgical conditions (defect size, mesh type, positioning of the mesh, length of hospital) and surgical outcomes by means of EuraHS-QoL score pre- and 30 days postoperative to assess quality of life (Qol). Alloplastic substitution with polypropylene, polyester and Dacron mesh has been used in all cases. Polypropylene mesh has been used in most of cases (91%). Most preferred mesh position was intraperitoneal (78%), then retromuscular (15%) and preperitoneal (7%). Immediate postoperative complications appeared in 41 cases (23.3%). Mean hospital length was 14,3 days. We could notice a double pre- and postoperative difference for the pain, with statistical significance (2.71�1.70; p=0.23) and the same pattern of distribution for restriction of activities and for cosmetic discomfort.