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An incisional hernia develops in 3%
to 13% of laparotomy incisions, necessitating approximately 90,000
ventral hernia operations per year.1
Unfortunately, primary repair of ventral
hernias often yields unsatisfactory results; reported recurrence
rates have ranged from 25% to 52%.2-4
The use of prosthetic materials to assist
with ventral herniorrhaphy has decreased rates of recurrence,
but important wound complications accompany mesh usage.4-7
This has led to a continuing search for new repair techniques.
Laparoscopic surgical approaches have several advantages over
traditional open operations, including reductions in hospital
stays, postoperative pain, and time required for convalescence.
The increasing interest in minimally invasive surgery has encouraged
development of techniques for performing ventral hernia repair
laparoscopically. Benefits of the videoscopic
approach have been reported in several small series of patients.8-15
We evaluated the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic ventral
and incisional herniorrhaphy used by senior surgeons in more
than 400 patients. Our review included a mean patient followup
time of nearly 2 years.
Introduction | Methods
| Results
| Discussion
| References
| Commentary
JACS |
