Is it safe to combine ventral hernia repair with bariatric surgery?

Obesity is one of the important precipitating factors for primary and incisional ventral hernias. There is controversy regarding the optimal time and method of repair of abdominal wall hernias in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. We reviewed our series of 250 patients who underwent bariatric surgery over 6 years period. 7 morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery had simultaneous ventral hernia repair. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) in 2 patients and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) were done in 5 patients. 6 patients had primary midline paraumbilical hernia and 1 patient had large recurrent incisional hernia. Open intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) repair was done in 5 cases with hernia defect <5 cm. Sutured repair was done in 1 patient, recurrence occurred after 3 months. IPOM repair was done 6 months later after significant weight loss. 1 patient of large incisional hernia (10 cm defect) with cholelithiasis underwent open mesh hernioplasty and panniculectomy. Postoperative seroma occurred in one patient, it subsided after repeated aspirations. After average follow up of over 2 years there has been no recurrence.

Paniculectomía masiva, cirugía funcional para pacientes con panniculus morbidus / Massive panniculectomy, a functional surgery for patients with panniculus morbidus

Panniculus morbidus es una enfermedad asociada a la obesidad mórbida que genera problemas higiénicos y discapacidad funcional. La paniculectomía masiva conlleva varias complicaciones, sin embargo, permite restaurar la calidad de vida y funcionalidad del paciente convirtiéndose así en un reto para el cirujano en su planificación, ejecución y manejo peri operatorio y más aún si no se tienen los medios. Es por ello que esta serie de casos tiene como objetivo presentar nuestra experiencia quirúrgica en el manejo de pacientes con obesidad mórbida sometidos a paniculectomía funcional con resultados satisfactorios. Desde nuestra experiencia en el abordaje de estos pacientes destacamos que la ausencia de materiales de suspensión no imposibilita llevar a cabo la cirugía con resultados aceptables siempre y cuando se tomen en cuenta los conceptos de resección y síntesis de la pared abdominal.(AU)

Panniculus morbidus is a disease associated with morbid obesity that generates hygienic problems and functional disability. Massive panniculectomy involves several complications, however, it allows restoring the patient's quality of life and functionality, thus becoming a challenge for the surgeon in his planning, execution and perioperative management and even more if the materials are not available. That is why this case series aims to present our surgical experience in the management of morbidly obese patients undergoing functional panniculectomy with satisfactory results. From our experience in the approach of these patients, we highlight that the absence of suspension materials does not make it impossible to carry out the surgery with acceptable results as long as the concepts of resection and synthesis of the abdominal wall were taken into account.(AU)