Changing the Innate Consensus About Mesh Fixation in Trans-abdominal Preperitoneal Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernioplasty in Adults: Short and Long Term Outcome. Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Inguinal hernias are the commonest hernia met in clinical practice and accounts for 75% of abdominal hernia. Inguinal hernia repair is regarded as the standard treatment for adult symptomatic inguinal hernia following the international guideline for groin hernia management in which mesh is used to reinforce inguinal floor. Surgical mesh repair can be performed by open or laparoscopic techniques. Lichtenstein repair is commonly applied for open approach whereas trans-abdominal preperitoneal repair (TAPP) and totally extra peritoneal repair (TEP) are commonly used for laparoscopic approach.

During the repair of an inguinal hernia, sutures or tacks are generally used to secure the prosthetic mesh in place. In TAPP repairs the peritoneum is closed using sutures or tacks. These mesh fixation or peritoneal closure techniques may contribute to postoperative chronic pain presumably due to nerve irritation or entrapment .

Several techniques for mesh fixations have been used including suture, glue or self-gripping mesh for open hernia repair (OHR); metallic tack, absorbable tack, glue, suture, self-gripping mesh or even non-fixation techniques for laparoscopic hernia repair (LHR). Up to date, there have been eight systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMAs) on OHR (ie, glue vs suture (n=5) and self-gripping mesh vs suture (n=3) and one network meta-analysis (NMA For LHR, comparisons were tack and glue (n=6).

fixation versus no fixation (n=3) .Although evidences were interesting, the overall results were inconclusive. In mesh-based repair, flat mesh is recommended over three-dimension mesh, while self-gripping mesh is another alternative mesh..

Intraoperative strategies to reduce pain include the non-fixation of mesh or the use of non-mechanical methods of mesh fixation other than tacking or suturing, which may be less traumatic to the local tissue and less likely to cause local nerve entrapment. These non-mechanical methods include self-fixating meshes or glue. Similarly, closing the peritoneum with sutures may be less traumatic than the use of tacks, thus resulting in less postoperative pain .

Once positioned, meshes are designed to be integrated in local tissue by a fibrotic reaction that gradually incorporates them. Therefore, a good fixation is essential to secure the mesh in its correct position, while the integration process occurs. The introduction of synthetic meshes and their proper fixation has reduced recurrence rates to below 5%. As a consequence, the most frequent postoperative morbidities have become mesh migration, chronic pain, infection, and seroma .

Cyanoacrylic glues ensure high-degree and strong bonding to biologic tissues .When they get in contact with blood or water contained in the tissue, they form a very tight cover, binding to the surface within 5-6 s Overall, tacks provide excellent fixation strength, and they are also easy to apply. Nevertheless, their use is associated with significant morbidity. The penetration of the abdominal wall, in fact, may cause nerve and vessel entrapment. Also, tacks are themselves foreign bodies introduced in the abdomen, so they may cause inflammatory reactions. As a result, a significant number of patients suffer from pain and develop adhesion in the postoperative period. Moreover, cases of migration of titanium tacks have been described. At present, absorbable tacks are connected to lower inflammation rates, adhesion formation, and migration so the use of titanium tacks is no longer advisable

Aim of the work:

to determine whether there is any clinical or statistical difference in outcomes and morbidity when mesh is fixed or not during laparoscopic TAPP inguinal hernia repair. We will also compare different methods of mesh fixation (i.e.no fixation, tacks (non-absorbable and absorbable), and histoacryl) and techniques of peritoneal closure in TAPP repairs (tacks/sutures).

Patients \& Methods:

Our study is a randomized controlled clinical trial. It was conducted on sixty adult male patients presenting with oblique inguinal hernia admitted in general surgery department, faculty of medicine Zagazig university from June 2016 to June 2018.

All the patients in this study were performed under the same surgical team after fulfilling the consent of the operation and after acceptance of the faculty of medicine Zagazig ethical committee.

The patients were randomly divided into three groups Group (A): includes twenty patients: no mesh fixation. Group (B): includes twenty patients: fixation of the mesh by tacker Group C: includes twenty patients: fixation of mesh by histoacryl.

Types of outcome measures Primary outcomes: Hernia recurrence (clinical or radiological at any time point), Chronic pain: pain persisting beyond three months postoperatively and persisting numbness: numbness in the groin or testicle persisting beyond three months postoperatively Secondary outcomes: Length of surgery (in minutes), Immediate postoperative pain (visual analogue scale (VAS)/ pain score),Vascular/visceral injury at operation,Haematoma/seroma development in postoperative period, Length of hospital stay (in days),Urinary retention in immediate postoperative period, Wound infection/mesh infection at any time point and Recovery time to normal activity (in days)