English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The debate between fixation and non-fixation of mesh in laparoscopic hernia surgery has been going since the advent of this technique. While earlier studies insisted on mesh fixation, emerging studies are now supporting elimination of mesh fixation. Therefore, a prospective comparative study was performed in tertiary health care centre in northern India to compare the incidence of recurrence, post-operative pain and chronic groin pain between mesh fixation and non-fixation. In this study, we wanted to compare the intra-operative complications, post-operative pain and recovery, duration of hospital stay, incidence of chronic groin pain and pain during follow up visits and incidence of recurrence in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair between fixation and non-fixation of mesh. METHODS A prospective comparative study was conducted among 50 patients admitted in surgery unit in a tertiary health care centre in northern India from January 2019 to October 2020 and were divided into two groups (group A - fixation, group B - non-fixation). Different factors such as post-operative pain, analgesia required post-operatively, duration of hospital stay, chronic groin pain and recurrence were compared between the two groups. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. RESULTS The mean pain score at the end of 1 month and 3 months was higher in patients in the mesh fixation group. The days required by patients to resume their routine activities was lesser in patients in the non-fixation group. The recurrence rate was found to be similar in both the groups. CONCLUSIONS Mesh fixation offers no clear advantage over non-fixation and non-fixation can be considered as the preferred alternative as this procedure has less chance of postoperative pain, early ambulation and no increased risk of recurrence. KEYWORDS Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair, Mesh Fixation, Mesh Non-Fixation