Comparative study between the use of self-fixating mesh and non-self-fixating mesh in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair transabdominal preperitoneal technique

Background
Hernia is a common problem of the modern world with an incidence ranging from 5 to 7%. Of all groin hernias, around 75% are inguinal hernias. Recently with the advancement in laparoscopy, endoscopic repairs seem to offer better quality of life, decreasing hospital stay and early return to work.
Aim of the work
To compare between self-fixating mesh and fixation of non-self-fixating mesh with absorbable tacks in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair transabdominal preperitoneal approach as regards intraoperative time, complications, postoperative pain, return to normal activity, and incidence of recurrence.
Patients and methods
Our study is a randomized, prospective study. It was conducted in El Demerdash, Ain Shams University Hospital on 30 patients with inguinal hernia who were operated upon between September 2018 and December 2018 with a minimal follow-up of 3 months.
Statistical analysis used
Data were collected, revised, coded, and entered to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS), version 23. The quantitative data were presented as mean, SDs, and ranges when their distribution was found parametric. Also qualitative variables were presented as number and percentages
Results
Our study demonstrates that laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair using the transabdominal preperitoneal technique with implantation of a new Parietex ProGrip laparoscopic self-fixation mesh is a fast, effective, and reliable method in experienced hands, which combines the advantages of laparoscopic approach with simple and practical implantation of self-fixation mesh, which, according to our results, reduces the occurrence of chronic pain and the recurrence rate.
Conclusion
After this comparative study, both the use of self-gripping mesh and fixation of mesh by absorbable tacks approaches are similarly effective in terms of operative time, the incidence of recurrence, complications, and chronic pain coinciding with all the available literature.