Ventral hernias can be repaired using a variety of techniques, with smaller defects often being amenable to minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approaches. For many years, the standard of care MIS approach to ventral hernias has been the laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) approach, in which a large piece of mesh is placed inside of the abdomen and fixed to the inner abdominal wall using a combination of sutures and/or mechanical tacks. For selected patients, the IPOM approach has demonstrated benefits over open repair, including decreased postoperative length of stay and decreased incidence of surgical site infection. However, concern regarding long-term outcomes of placing mesh inside the abdomen have spurred the search for alternate approaches to MIS ventral hernia repair. This includes the enhanced-view totally extraperitoneal (eTEP) approach, in which the retromuscular plane is accessed and developed so a large piece of mesh may be implanted outside of the abdominal cavity. The theoretical benefits of this approach are that patients may experience reduced pain because mechanical mesh fixation is not required (as compared to traditional IPOM approaches in which mesh is fixed to the inner abdominal wall) and that mesh is kept outside of the abdominal cavity and away from the viscera, allowing use of less expensive, uncoated mesh and theoretically reducing risk for long-term mesh related complications. While popularity of eTEP has grown, literature published regarding this approach has been mostly retrospective, consists of relatively small series of patients, and suffers from selection bias. For the one prospective study of eTEP published by Radu, et al, there was no comparator arm. The investigators will conduct a registry-based randomized controlled trial comparing MIS approaches for repair of small to medium-sized ventral hernias, specifically eTEP versus IPOM. This will occur through the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC). Our hypotheses are multiple: 1) Patients with ventral hernias undergoing eTEP will experience a 30% decrease in pain scores by postoperative day 1 compared to patients undergoing IPOM; 2) eTEP will be associated with higher median direct costs per case versus IPOM; 3) eTEP will be associated with equivalent 1-year hernia recurrence rates versus IPOM; 4) eTEP will be associated with significantly increased intraoperative surgeon workload compared to IPOM.
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Pain on postoperative day 1
Timeframe: postoperative day 1