Local parastomal hernia repair with biological mesh is safe and effective

The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, morbidity and safety of local parastomal hernia repair using biological mesh.

A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database was performed for parastomal hernia repairs. All patients who underwent local parastomal hernia repair with biological mesh between July 2006 and July 2015 were included in the study. Non-local (laparoscopic or midline incision) procedures were excluded. The type of repair, incision used, mesh placement and morbidity were analyzed. Time to recurrence was measured as an independent variable.

58 procedures with a median follow up of 3.8 years were analyzed. The majority (91%) of repairs were performed on an elective basis. Underlay technique was used in 24 patients (39%), overlay in 4 (7%) and both overlay and underlay (sandwich technique) in 33 (54%) of the cases. Overall, 11 patients (18.1%) experienced recurrence. Recurrence occurred in 8 patients in the underlay group (33%), 1 in the overlay group (25%), with 2 recurrences identified in the sandwich technique group (6%; p = 0.02). There was one occurrence of 30-day morbidity in our study population (0.016%). No difference was observed for recurrence or morbidity according to the type of biologic mesh used (human, bovine, or porcine).

Our results demonstrate that local parastomal hernia repairs are associated with moderate recurrence rates, very low morbidity and consistent with the current literature. The sandwich technique was found to have a significantly lower recurrence rate compared to underlay or overlay techniques. Keyhole incisions were associated with less recurrence than traditional circular incisions. Our findings further reveal biologic mesh type was not associated with any difference in outcomes. Local parastomal hernia repair with biologic mesh is a safe procedure with very low morbidity and acceptable recurrence rate, especially using the sandwich repair technique.