Greater risk of incisional hernia with morbidly obese than steroid-dependent patients and low recurrence with prefascial polypropylene mesh

Background Incisional hernia is a serious complication of abdominal surgery. We compared incisional hernia frequency following gastric bypass (GBP) for morbid obesity versus total abdominal colectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis. A prefascial polypropylene mesh repair was also evaluated. Patients and methods All patients had midline incisions, xiphoid to umbilicus in GBP patients and midepigastrium to pubis in IPAA patients. Fascia were closed with running No. 2 polyglycolic acid suture. Ninety-eight patients underwent prefascial polypropylene mesh repair; 80 were GBP patients, 46 had 1 previous repair, and 17 had 2 to 9 previous repairs (6 with properitoneal mesh). Results Incisional hernia occurred in 20% (198/968) of GBP patients (19% without versus 41% with a previous hernia, P< 0.001) versus 4% (7/171) of the IPAA patients (P< 0.001), of whom 102 (60%) were taking prednisone (32 ± 2 mg/d) and 5 were quite obese (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2). Additional risk factors for hernia in GBP patients included wound infection, diabetes, sleep apnea, and obesity hypoventilation. For the 98 patients who underwent prefascial polypropylene mesh repair, the mean follow-up was 20 ±2 months (range 6 to 104), and complications occurred in 35% of patients, including minor wound infection (12%), major wound infection (5%), seroma (5%), hematoma (3%), chronic pain (6%), and recurrent hernia (4%). Conclusions Severe obesity is a greater risk factor for incisional hernia and hernia recurrence than chronic steroid use in nonobese colitis patients. A prefascial polypropylene mesh repair minimizes recurrence.