Comparison of early outcomes for laparoscopic ventral hernia repair between nonobese and morbidly obese patient populations

Obesity predisposes to incisional herniation and increased the incidence of recurrence after conventional open repair. Only sparse data on the safety and security of laparoscopic ventral hernia repair (LVHR) for morbidly obese patients are available. This study compared the incidence of perioperative complications and early recurrence after LVHR between morbidly obese and non–morbidly obese patients.

The case records of consecutive patients who underwent LVHR between December 2002 and August 2007 were reviewed. Patients with a body mass index (BMI) lower than 35 kg/m² were compared with morbidly obesity patients who had a BMI of 35 kg/m² or higher.

The study included 168 patients (87 men) with a median age of 55 years (range, 24–92 years). Two conversions to open repair (1.2%) were performed, both for non–morbidly obese patients. Of the 168 patients, 42 (25%) were morbidly obese (BMI range, 35.0–58.0 kg/m²) and 126 (75%) were non–morbidly obese (BMI range, 15.5–34.9 kg/m²). The groups showed no significant differences in age, gender, number or size of fascial defects, operative time, length of hospital stay, or incidence of perioperative complications. At a median follow-up period of 19 months (range, 6–62 months), 20 patients (12%) had recurrent hernias. The incidence of recurrence was significantly associated with the size of the fascial defect and the size of the mesh, but not with morbid obesity.

No significant difference in the incidence of perioperative complications or recurrence after LVHR was observed between the morbidly obese patients and the non–morbidly obese patients.