Long-term outcomes of ventral hernia repair using a new prosthetic mesh

Abstract BACKGROUND: Recently, use of hybrid meshes has been proposed owing to its different mesh-related properties. This study reviews our longer term experience with a hybrid mesh. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all patients undergoing ventral hernia repair at our single medical center using a hybrid mesh from April 2016 through September 2019. Demographic, perioperative, and short- and long-term outcomes, reoperation, and recurrence rates were reviewed, and descriptive statistics were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 48 patients who underwent ventral hernia repairs using a hybrid mesh were included. The average age of participants was 58 years (range 42–77 years), 85.7% were Caucasian, and 51% female. A minimally invasive approach was performed in 63.3%, with 20.4% converting to open hernia repair. Eighteen patients (36.7%) underwent open hernia repair. Thirty-day complications occurred in 12 patients (24.5%), with the most common complication being seroma formation. Hernia recurrence occurred in four of 49 (8.2%) patients. Results of a univariate analysis comparing groups of patients who did and did not experience recurrence resulted with body mass index (BMI) (45.85 vs. 30.70) as the only statistically significant risk factor. All recurrences occurred in open (three) or laparoscopic converted to open (one) cases. Over the full follow-up period, 11 patients (22.4%) underwent abdominal reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: We report longer-term outcomes of a new permanent synthetic hybrid mesh with long-term hernia recurrence rates comparable to reported national averages. This study found BMI to be a statistically significant predictor of hernia recurrence. Synecor mesh appears to be safe and offers potential benefits of both bioabsorbable and permanent synthetic meshes.