Umbilical hernia repair with mesh: identifying effectors of ideal outcomes

BackgroundQuality of life has become an important focus for improvement in hernia repair.MethodsThe International Hernia Mesh Registry was queried. The Carolinas Comfort Scale quantitated quality of life at 1-month, 6-month, and annual follow-up. Scores of 0 (completely asymptomatic) in all categories without recurrence defined an ideal outcome.ResultsThe analysis consisted of 363 umbilical hernia repairs; 18.7% were laparoscopic. Demographics included age of 51.5 ± 13.8 years, 24.5% were female, and the average body mass index was 30.63 ± 5.9 kg/m2. Mean defect size was 4.3 ± 3.1 cm2. Mean follow-up was 18.2 months. Absent/minimal preoperative symptoms were predictive of ideal outcome at all time points and increasing age was predictive at 6 months and 1 year. At 6 months, the use of fixation sutures alone versus tacks (odds ratio 14.1) predicted ideal outcome.ConclusionsIdeal outcomes are dependent on both patient-specific and operative factors. The durable, ideal outcome in umbilical hernia repair is most likely in an older, asymptomatic patient who undergoes mesh fixation with permanent suture.