title: Inguinal hernia repair with Spermatex: the first 100 cases.
abstract: We evaluated 100 consecutive cases of surgical repair of inguinal hernia using SpermaTex (Davol, Cranston, RI) to assess postoperative outcome measures of early and late complications and hernia recurrence. SpermaTex is a bilayer surgical mesh prosthesis consisting of a fibrosis-inducing layer of polypropylene mesh bonded to a fibrosis-inhibiting layer of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. One hundred male patients with unilateral primary inguinal hernia, with a mean age of 49 years, underwent hernia repair with the open anterior approach using SpermaTex. Mean operative time was 35 minutes; there was 3% morbidity and no mortality. At a 14-day follow-up, no patients had postoperative pain; within 2-8 weeks, all patients had returned to their presurgical health condition, with no inguinal pain. At follow-ups of 3 months to 4 years, all 100 patients experienced no recurrence, and all had improved, although 3 patients developed chronic sinus tracts. This series shows a favorable postoperative outcome profile for the use of SpermaTex in inguinal hernia repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. enicolo@aol.com
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicolo
mesh_terms: D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain; D011126:Polypropylenes; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012008:Recurrence; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D011126:Polypropylenes; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene