Long-term outcomes of primary ventral hernia repair associated with rectus diastasis

Primary ventral hernia repair is a common global surgical procedure, entailing economic burdens and recurrence challenges. Rectus diastasis (RD) is considered a risk factor for midline defects and treatment is symptom-based. When primary ventral hernia and RD coexist, management still remains unclear. This study aims to analyze recurrence rates in patients after umbilical/epigastric hernia repair with untreated diastasis. Observational and retrospective cohort study of 74 patients assessing the recurrence rate of umbilical or epigastric hernias in patients operated with or without RD. Data were obtained from a tertiary hospital's patients between 2015 and 2017. Medium-term recurrences were analyzed after at least 3 year follow up. We compared demographic data, presence of RD (defined as rectus muscles separation exceeding 2 cm), type of repair and surgical complications. Data on 74 patients were collected. The mean age was 57.08 years, and the mean BMI was 31.27 kg/m². Thirty-one included patients were females (42.9%). RD was documented in 67.1% of the sample. Mean follow-up was 4.23 (± 2.53) years. Postoperative complications were predominantly grade 1 according to the Clavien-Dindo classification, with a 17.14% surgical site infection rate. Female gender (p = 0.039), diabetes (0.016), and RD (0.049) showed statistically significant differences in predicting the risk of medium-term recurrence. Patients with untreated RD face a higher risk of medium-term recurrence following primary ventral hernia repair. Additionally, female gender and diabetes were found to be independent risk factors. Prospective studies are recommended to further assist surgeons in choosing the optimal surgical strategy for patients with umbilical hernia and associated RD.