Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair: a community hospital experience

From October 1993 to April 1994, laparoscopic ventral hernia repair was performed on 10 patients, all of whom had a history of failed ventral hernia repair and at least two prior ventral hernia repair procedures. Patients presented with complaints of abdominal discomfort, painful mass at the hernia site, or vague abdominal discomfort. No operative deaths occurred. Two patients had minor complications: a seroma at the repair site, which resolved spontaneously, and a superficial wound infection at a trochar site, which responded to an oral cephalosporin. Six patients were discharged within 24 hours of surgery and one patient was operated on as an outpatient and discharged the same day. Follow-up of all patients ranged from 10 to 17 months. No evidence of hernia recurrence has been noted. Some recurrent ventral hernias are amenable to laparoscopic repair, and this technique may be preferable in some patients, especially those who have had an earlier failed open repair with mesh. We do not advocate use of our technique for the first repair of a ventral hernia. Long-term follow-up is still needed to determine recurrence rates compared with conventional open techniques.