Lower Incidence of Postoperative Pain after Open Inguinal Hernia Surgery with the Usage of Synthetic Glue-Coated Mesh (Adhesix®)

Abstract

Chronic groin pain after inguinal hernia mesh repair is a common problem. Mesh fixation without sutures has been suggested to have several advantages over the traditional suture fixation. The aim of this study was to compare two self-adhering meshes, the glued Adhesix® (AH) and the gripping Parietene ProGrip® (PP), and evaluate their impact on postoperative chronic pain and overall recovery. Two consultant surgeons performed altogether 393 open inguinal hernia operations at the Helsinki University Hospital during 2014 to 2015. The two groups, AH (n = 169) and PP (n = 224) were similar and comparable in terms of demographic data. The data were collected and analyzed from the patients' medical records in the hospital's register. The patients were followed up for a period of 19 months (5-31 months). The number of patient contacts due to postoperative pain was significantly less common in the AH group than in the PP group, 4/169 (2.4%) versus 19/224 (8.5%) patients, respectively (P = 0.011). The duration of pain was under three months for most patients, only two patients in the PP group had pain for over one year. The pain was treated most patients with anti-inflammatory painkillers, whereas injections of a local anesthetic and corticosteroid, and chronic pain medication was needed in some cases. It seems that the use of glue-coated mesh (Adhesix®) was associated with less postoperative visits due to pain compared with the self-fixating mesh with absorbable anchoring system (ProGrip®). Further studies with long-term follow-up are needed to confirm these results.