Surgical disaster following hernia mesh infection and erroneous treatment strategy: A case report

The aim of the current case presentation is to demonstrate the calamity of hernia mesh infection arising from an erroneous surgical strategy.

A patient with a recurrent gigantic ventral hernia and chronic hernia mesh infection is presented. 56 months and five surgeries were necessary to resolve the hernia mesh infection, and 7 months were required to deal with the complications following mesh explantation. During the last hospitalization, 18 surgical interventions under general anesthesia, 12 radiologic, 13 microbiological and 41 laboratory examinations were performed. Seven antibiotics were prescribed for 112 days in total.

It is challenging for an ordinary surgeon to be up to speed with the latest evidence-based practices if dealing with a surgical domain not practiced regularly. Tactical errors play as big a role as errors in surgical technique. A surgical strategy varying between error and accuracy can catalyze a chain reaction of complications and surgical errors, finally resulting in life-threatening complications.

The case report demonstrates the impact of an erroneous surgical strategy on the treatment process and highlights the difficulties related to hernia mesh infection.