Publication:

Demographics and outcomes of ventral wall hernia repair at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital

Background Ventral abdominal wall hernias are one of the most common encountered surgical cases. Currently most repairs are done using a mesh either in an onlay or sublay method. The high burden of ventral abdominal wall hernias, there is a need to determine the most common predictive factors for their occurrence and the complications associated with their repair so that the best preventive measures can be taken.

Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital during the period between 1st January 2014 to 30 June 2019. All patients underwent ventral hernia repair were included and pediatric patients were excluded.

Results The total number of included patients were 383. Previous abdominal wall surgery was the most common risk factor (218 of the patient) followed by pregnancy (132). There was a significant correlation between age of patients and duration of admission (P value 0.003) however no significant correlation between gender and duration of admission was found. The percentage of recurrence in open surgery was 4.69% and 12.50% in laparoscopic repair. There was insignificant correlation between the use of mesh and recurrence rate. It was reported that 73 patients developed post operative complication with higher rate for seroma and hematoma.

Conclusions Addressing risk factors and educate the population is an important step that should be taken to decrease the incidence hernia and its complication. As the sample size was small and majority of patient are from one region, a large multicentre study will be considered for better analysis and results.