Comparative Study of Self-Gripping Mesh vs. Polypropylene Mesh in Lichtenstein's Open Inguinal Hernioplasty

Background Inguinal hernia is one of the most common conditions in India, and history has many repair techniques recorded in it. Postoperative pain still remains a problem despite tension-free hernioplasty being accepted as the gold standard. Increased duration of surgery not only exposes the patient to unwanted increased chances of mesh infection but also reduces the surgeon's productivity if continued persistently. In this study, the main aim was to compare the fixation techniques of polypropylene mesh vs. self-gripping mesh in inguinal hernia surgery in terms of duration of surgery, postoperative pain, seroma, recurrence, foreign body sensation, and wound infections. Methods It is a prospective, comparative, and quantitative study conducted at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research in the Department of General Surgery. Patients presenting with inguinal hernia to the OPD were included in the study. The sampling technique used in this study is simple, convenient sampling. As a result, the calculation of the margin of error and confidence levels may be difficult. Nevertheless, the sample accurately represents the population. Patients were divided into two groups: the study group (25), patients undergoing hernioplasty with self-gripping mesh, and the control group (25), patients undergoing hernioplasty with polypropylene mesh using conventional suturing. The duration of surgery, postoperative pain, seroma, recurrence, foreign body sensation, and wound infections were compared and analyzed between the two groups. Results In this study, the duration of surgery was less than one hour for three patients (12%) in the control group (polypropylene), compared to 13 (52%) patients in the study group (self-gripping), which is statistically significant. The early postoperative pain on POD 0 was greater than 4 (visual analogue score) in 8 (32%) patients in the control group and two (8%) patients in the study group. There were no significant differences in chronic pain, recurrence rate, seroma rate, or wound infection between the two groups. Conclusions In our study, we conclude that self-gripping mesh is superior to polypropylene mesh in surgery of inguinal hernia in terms of shorter duration of surgery. There is also reduced pain in the immediate postoperative period though not statistically significant. There is no significant difference in both the groups in terms of seroma formation, wound infection, foreign body sensation, and recurrence.