Laparoscopic repair of large suprapubic hernias

INTRODUCTION: Suprapubic hernia is the term to describe ventral hernias located less than 4 cm above the pubic arch in the midline. Hernias with an upper margin above the arcuate line encounter technical difficulties, and the differences in repair methods forced us to define them as large suprapubic hernias. AIM: To present our experience with laparoscopic repair of large suprapubic hernias that allows adequate mesh overlap. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with suprapubic incisional hernias who underwent laparoscopic repair between May 2013 and January 2015 were included in the study. Patients with laparoscopic extraperitoneal repair who had a suprapubic hernia with an upper margin below the arcuate line were excluded. RESULTS: Two men and 17 women, with a mean age of 58.2, underwent laparoscopic repair. Most of the incisions were midline vertical (13/68.4%). Twelve (63.1%) of the patients had previous incisional hernia repair (PIHR group); the mean number of previous incisional hernia repair was 1.4. Mean defect size of the PIHR group was higher than in patients without previous repair – 107.3 cm(2) vs. 50.9 cm(2) (p < 0.05). Mean operating time of the PIHR group was higher than in patients without repair – 126 min vs. 77.9 min (p < 0.05). Although all complications occurred in the PIHR group, there was no statistically significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic repair of large suprapubic hernias can be considered as the first option in treatment. The low recurrence rates reported in the literature and the lack of recurrence, as observed in our study, support this view.