The trend toward minimally invasive complex abdominal wall reconstruction: is it worth it?

Open abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR) was previously one of the only methods available to treat complex ventral hernias. We set out to identify the impact of laparoscopy and robotics on our AWR program by performing an economic analysis before and after the institution of minimally invasive AWR.

We retrospectively reviewed inpatient hospital costs and economic factors for a consecutive series of 104 AWR cases that utilized separation of components technique (57 open, 38 laparoscopic, 9 robotic). Patients were placed into two groups by date of procedure. Group 1 (Pre MIS) was July 2012–June 2015 which included 52 open cases. Group 2 (Post MIS) was July 2015–August 2016 which included 52 cases (5 open, 38 laparoscopic, 9 robotic).

A total of 104 patients (52 G1 vs. 52 G2) with mean age (54.2 vs. 54.1 years, p = 0.960), BMI (34.7 vs. 32.1 kg/m², p = 0.059), and ASA score (2.5 vs. 2.3, p = 0.232) were included in this review. Total length of stay (LOS) was significantly shorter for patients in the Post MIS group (5.3 vs. 1.4 days, p < 0.001). Although operating room (OR) supply costs were $1705 higher for the Post MIS group (p = 0.149), total hospital costs were $8628 less when compared to the Pre MIS group (p < 0.001). Multiple linear regressions identified increased BMI (p = 0.021), longer OR times (p = 0.003), and LOS (p < 0.001) as predictors of higher total costs. Factors that were predictive of longer LOS included older patients (p = 0.003) and patients with larger defect areas (p = 0.004). MIS was predictive of shorter hospital stays (p < 0.001).

Despite an increase in operating room supply costs, transition to performing MIS AWR in cases that were previously done through an open approach decreased LOS and translated into significant overall total cost savings.