EVALUATION OF THE MESH PLUG REPAIR FOR RECURRENT INGUINAL HERNIAS

Abstract

The present study was carried on 20 patients presenting with recurrent inguinal hernia. All the cases were subjected to detailed history taking, complete clinical examination and necessary laboratory investigations. All the patients had a follow-up period for 6 months following the hernial repair. The mean age of recurrent inguinal hernia patients was 45 years. All recurrent inguinal hernia patients were males.

The main presenting symptoms in recurrent inguinal hernia were protrusion and heaviness in the inguinoscrotal region. Nineteen patients with recurrent inguinal hernia had first time

recurrence and one patient had only twice recurrence.

Thirty percent (30%) of patients presented with early recurrence while 70% had late onset after the initial operative procedure. Nineteen patients had one previous surgical procedure at the same site and the remaining one had two previous surgical procedures for recurrence.

Intra-operatively, 40% of cases were indirect recurrent inguinal hernia, 55% of cases were direct recurrent inguinal hernias and 5% of cases were pantaloon recurrent hernia.

Nineteen patients had pure tissue repair for previous inguinal hernia, and only one patient had pure synthetic repair.

During surgery, 19 cases had one defect either in internal inguinal nng or in the anterior wall of the inguinal floor, and only one case had two defects one at the internal inguinal ring and the other at the inguinal floor.