Staged hernia repair preceded by gastric bypass for the treatment of morbidly obese patients with complex ventral hernias

Obesity may be the most predominant risk factor for recurrence following ventral hernia repair. This is secondary to significantly increased intra-abdominal pressures, higher rates of wound complications, and the technical difficulties encountered due to obesity. Medically managed weight loss prior to surgery is difficult. One potential strategy is to provide a surgical means to correct patient weight prior to hernia repair.

After institutional review board approval, we reviewed the medical records of all patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery prior to the definitive repair of a complex ventral hernia at our medical center.

Twenty-seven morbidly obese patients with an average of 3.7 (range 1–10) failed ventral hernia repairs underwent gastric bypass prior to definitive ventral hernia repair. Twenty-two of the gastric bypasses were open operations and five were laparoscopic. The patients’ average pre-bypass body mass index (BMI) was 51 kg/m² (range 39–69 kg/m²), which decreased to an average of 33 kg/m² (range 25–37 kg/m²) at the time of hernia repair at a mean of 1.3 years (range 0.9–3.1 years) after gastric bypass. Seven patients had hernia repair at the same time as their gastric bypass (four sutured, three biologic mesh), all of which recurred. Of the 27 patients, 19 had an open hernia repair and eight had a laparoscopic repair. Panniculectomy was performed concurrently in 15 patients who had an open repair. Prior to formal hernia repair, one patient required an urgent operation to repair a hernia incarceration and a small-bowel obstruction 11 months after gastric bypass. The average hernia and mesh size was 203 cm² (range 24–1,350 cm²) and 1,040 cm² (range 400–2,700 cm²), respectively. There have been no recurrences at an average follow-up of 20 months (range 2 months–5 years).

Gastric bypass prior to staged ventral hernia repair in morbidly obese patients with complex ventral hernias is a safe and definitive method to effect weight loss and facilitate a durable hernia repair with a possible reduced risk of recurrence.