Mortality following laparoscopic ventral hernia repair: lessons from 90 consecutive cases and bibliographical analysis

The popularity of laparoscopic repair of ventral hernias is increasing due to the apparent advantages of the procedure, but this approach is still a controversial technique. The aim of our study was to evaluate the mortality rate of laparoscopic ventral hernia repair and analyse the literature. The authors performed a prospective study in 90 patients with ventral hernia who were treated by laparoscopic repair. Clinical parameters and intra- and postoperative complications were evaluated. A case of mortality was reported due to a nonrecognised bowel injury. The mean follow-up (100%) was 42 months (range: 1–5 years). A bibliographical analysis was carried out (MEDLINE). Four bowel injuries were presented (4.4%): three recognised, which required conversion (two treated with minilaparotomy and completed afterwards by laparoscopy, and one by laparotomy); and one nonrecognised, which was re-operated on but evolved to sepsis and multiorgan failure and resulted in death in 48 h (1.1%). Four further mortality rates have been documented in the literature (0.6%, 1.1%, 3.1%, and 3.4% of their series). Bowel injury and mortality show a statistically significant tendency to decrease with the number of operations (P<0.05). In conclusion, in our study the risk of mortality with laparoscopic ventral hernia repair has been higher than 1%, which must be made known. It is a risk that depends on the surgeon’s experience but which does not seem to be predictable.