One surgeon's experience with r-TAPP: a retrospective analysis of 150 consecutive robotic inguinal hernia cases

There is a tremendous paucity of literatures regarding the long-term surgical outcomes of the r-TAPP procedure for inguinal hernia repair. Additionally, much of the existing literatures regarding this procedure have limited follow-up of to 12 months. This article presents the outcomes of 150 consecutive r-TAPP inguinal hernia repairs performed on 111 patients using Progrip mesh without fixation, with up to 24 months of follow-up. The initial 150 consecutive r-TAPP inguinal hernia repairs were performed from February 2017 to April 2018 using Progrip without fixation. All patients were seen at 2 weeks, followed by phone follow-up at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years. Of the 111 patients, 39 had bilateral hernias (35%) and 72 had unilateral hernias (65%). The age range was 18-93 years. The BMI range was 20.7-50.2, with a mean of 26.4 and median of 25.8. Total operative time ranged from 28 to 138 min with a mean of 62.4 min and median of 56 min. ASA classification ranged from 1 to 4, with a mean of 2.1. No significant blood loss was observed in any of the cases. There were no conversions to open surgery. All patients were discharged the same day of the operation. We were able to follow up with 100% of the hernias at 2 weeks, 88% at 6 months, 87% at 1 year, and 80% at 2 years. No recurrences were recorded at 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years. There were no reports of chronic pain up to 2 years in any of the patients. These results indicate that r-TAPP inguinal hernia repair using Progrip without further fixation is safe, effective, and can be performed with minimal recurrences or chronic pain.

Multicenter review of robotic versus laparoscopic ventral hernia repair: is there a role for robotics?

BACKGROUND

The utilization of robotic platforms for general surgery procedures such as hernia repair is growing rapidly in the United States. A limited amount of data are available evaluating operative outcomes in comparison to standard laparoscopic surgery. We completed a retrospective review comparing robotic and laparoscopic ventral hernia repair to provide safety and outcomes data to help design a future prospective trial design.

METHODS

A retrospective review of 215 patients undergoing ventral hernia repair (142 robotic and 73 laparoscopic) was completed at two large academic centers. Primary outcome measure evaluated was recurrence. Secondary outcomes included incidence of primary fascial closure, and surgical site occurrences.

RESULTS

Propensity for treatment match comparison demonstrated that robotic repair was associated with a decreased incidence of recurrence (2.1 versus 4.2%, p < 0.001) and surgical site occurrence (4.2 versus 18.8%, p < 0.001). This may be because robotic repair was associated with increased incidence of primary fascial closure (77.1 versus 66.7%, p < 0.01). Analysis of baseline patient populations showed that robotic repairs were completed on patients with lower body mass index (28.1 ± 3.6 versus 34.2 ± 6.4, p < 0.001) and fewer comorbidities.

CONCLUSIONS

Our retrospective data show that robotic repair was associated with decreased recurrence and surgical site occurrence. However, the differences noted in the patient populations limit the interpretability of these results. As adoption of robotic ventral hernia repair increases, prospective trials need to be designed in order to investigate the efficacy, safety, and cost effectiveness of this evolving technique.