Shrinkage evaluation of heavyweight and lightweight polypropylene meshes in inguinal hernia repair: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

One of the current complications in inguinal repair is shrinkage following the use of mesh. The selected mesh material, heavyweight (HWM) mesh or lightweight (LWM) mesh, is associated with the frequency of shrinkage. The aim of this study was to investigate shrinkage of these two types of mesh in a controlled trial of male inguinal hernia repair.

METHODS

Thirty-two healthy men with primary unilateral inguinal hernias (Nyhus classification), who presented at São José Hospital of Criciúma, Brazil, underwent the Lichtenstein procedure. In total, 16 polypropylene HWM (105 g/m(2)) and 16 partially absorbable LWM (28 g/m(2)) were implanted into randomly selected patients. On post-operative days 1, 30, 60 and 90, the area of the mesh was evaluated by digital radiography.

RESULTS

The study randomized 32 patients and analyzed 30 patients--15 for each type of mesh. At baseline, there were no differences between groups. There were significant differences between the two meshes when comparing the total area initially and on postoperative day 90 (P = 0.001). The HWM had significantly less area initial area, as compared with 90 days postoperatively (P = 0.04).

CONCLUSION

Shrinkage was significantly higher for HWM, although the difference was not large.