Midterm Results of the Open and Minimally Invasive Transversus Abdominis Release Technique for the Treatment of Abdominal Wall Hernias in an Academic Center

Nicolás Quezada; Milenko Grimoldi; Ioram Jacubovsky; Nicolás Besser; Sergio Riveros; Pablo Achurra; Fernando Crovari

doi:10.3389/jaws.2022.10407

Midterm Results of the Open and Minimally Invasive Transversus Abdominis Release Technique for the Treatment of Abdominal Wall Hernias in an Academic Center

J Abdom Wall Surg. 2022 Aug 5:1:10407. doi: 10.3389/jaws.2022.10407. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nicolás Quezada¹, Milenko Grimoldi², Ioram Jacubovsky², Nicolás Besser³, Sergio Riveros³, Pablo Achurra¹, Fernando Crovari¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Digestive Surgery, Surgery Division, Faculty of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
² General Surgery Service, Hospital Dr. Sótero Del Río, Santiago, Chile.
³ Surgery Division, Faculty of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Abstract

Introduction: Large hernia defects are a challenge for general and specialized hernia surgeons. The transversus abdominis release (TAR) technique has revolutionized the treatment of complex hernias since it allows the closure of large midline hernias, as well as hernias in different locations. This study aims to report the experience with the TAR technique and mid-term results in the first 101 patients. Methods: Non-concurrent cohort review of our prospectively collected electronic database. All patients submitted to a TAR (open or minimally invasive eTEP-TAR) from 2017 to 2020 were included. Demographic data, comorbidities, hernia characteristics, preoperative optimization, intraoperative variables, and clinical outcomes were gathered. The main outcomes of this study are hernia recurrences and surgical morbidity. Results: A total of 101 patients were identified. The median follow-up was 26 months. Mean age and body mass index was 63 years and 31.4 Kg/m², respectively. Diabetes was present in 22% of patients and 43% had at least one previous hernia repair. Nineteen patients had significant loss of domain. Mean hernia size and area were 13 cm and 247 cm², respectively. Ninety-six percent of cases were clean or clean-contaminated. The mean operative time was 164 min and all patients received a synthetic mesh. We diagnosed two hernia recurrences and the overall (medical and surgical) complication rate was 32%. The hernia-specific complication rate was 17%, with seven surgical site infections and seven surgical site occurrences requiring procedural interventions. Notably, weight loss was associated with a lower risk of SSOPI and reoperations. Conclusion: We show an encouraging 2% of recurrences in the mid-term follow-up in the setting of clinically complex hernia repair. However, we observed a high frequency of overall and hernia-specific complications pointing to the complexity of the type of surgery itself and the patients we operated on.

Keywords: TAR; giant hernia; incisional hernia; retro-muscular; transversus abdominis release.