Background: Incarcerated groin hernias are a common presentation as surgical emergencies. Other surgical treatment modalities are becoming more widely accepted including the use of prosthetic mesh and laparoscopy for assessment of hernia content viability and for repair. The aim of this study was to report our current experience with the use of prosthetic mesh in the treatment of incarcerated hernias and to compare the effects of different operative approaches.
Methods: This retrospective study included 219 consecutive patients who underwent herniorrhaphy for incarcerated hernia between January 2013 and December 2017 in Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital. Twenty patients who were not used mesh were excluded. Patients who died in the postoperative period due to systemic complications, as well as those who were lost during the follow-up period, were excluded from the study. Demographics, surgical details, short term and long-term outcomes were collected. Mann-Whitney U-test and χ2 test were used for statistical analysis.
Results: A total of 156 patients (78.4%) presented with inguinal hernias, 42 with femoral hernia (21.1%), and one with mixed hernia (0.5%), respectively. Mesh was placed in 199 patients (100%), including 15 patients with concomitant bowel resection. Four patients (2.0%) developed surgical site infections (SSI), four patients (2.0%) had foreign body sensation, one patient (0.5%) had hernia recurrence, two patients (1.0%) had chronic pain, 22 patients (11.1%) had seroma, and the mortality was 2.0%. No significant difference was noted concerning the development of surgical site infection, postoperative recurrence, chronic pain, foreign body sensation, and mortality rates between the transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) repair and open mesh repair. There was statistically significant difference in the postoperative incidence of seroma between two groups (12 of 49 [24.5%] vs. 10 of 150 [6.7%]; P=0.001).
Conclusions: Our experience demonstrates that acutely incarcerated or strangulated groin hernia in adults is a serious neglected problem. The use of mesh could become current practice even in case of bowel resection. There was no statistically significant difference in the postoperative complications between TAPP repair and open mesh repairs except seroma.