Surgical repair of inguinal hernia: tension free technique with prosthetic materials (Gore-Tex Mycro Mesh expanded polytetrafluoroethylene).

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to report the results of a tension-free repair technique using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene Gore-Tex Mycro Mesh in patients with inguinal hernias. Over 3 years, 104 patients have undergone the aforementioned procedure for 118 hernias (85 indirect and 33 direct) in our clinic. Ninety-three of the patients were operated for the first time, whereas the remainder of them were operated for hernia recurrence. Fourteen patients had bilateral hernias, and six had incarcerated ones. The median patient's age was 53 years. Eighty-three patients were operated under general and 21 under local or epidural anesthesia. One hundred and two patients were offered a one-day surgery procedure, but three were readmitted with wound infection. Two of these patients were conservatively cured, and the third was submitted to mesh removal. Two patients developed hematoma in the scrotum and were discharged a week later after the absorption of the hematoma. All of the patients except the one who was submitted to mesh removal returned to normal life within a week after the operation. During the follow-up period, none of our patients experienced hernia recurrence. Our results are in accordance with those of the world literature. We perform the tension-free hernia repair by using the expanded polytetrafluoroethylene mesh in our patients because we believe it is a safe procedure without significant postoperative morbidity and with no hernia recurrences.