The use of sterilized mosquito nets for hernioplasty: a systematic review

Abstract

Hernia repair is among the most frequent surgeries performed. Surgeons prefer the tension-free mesh repair, but in large parts of the world, commercial meshes are unavailable or unaffordable. Consequently, surgeons have been experimenting with insertion of inexpensive non-commercial meshes, the most common being a non-impregnated, sterilized mosquito net. To describe the results of inserting non-commercial meshes for hernioplastic surgery. Systematic searches were performed in EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane databases, and articles were chosen based on predefined inclusion criteria. We found five original studies performed in humans, and one study was performed in goats using non-commercial meshes. A total of 577 non-commercial meshes have been inserted into humans, resulting in 35 patients (6.1%) having short-term complications and one (0.17%) recurrence. The majority of meshes inserted were mosquito nets. None of the short-term complications in any of the studies required reoperation. There seems to be good short-term and long-term outcomes when using non-commercial meshes for open inguinal hernia repair. Operating using a non-commercial mesh is highly cost-effective. Using non-commercial meshes for hernioplastic surgery is therefore interesting-especially in a resource-limited setting.