Abstract Aims and Objectives To compare our current practice with the European Hernia Society (EHS) and American Hernia Society (AHS) guidelines for umbilical and epigastric hernia management. To understand the suggested algorithm for the management of these hernias and to think of ways to improve our practice. Methodology and Results Retrospective study approved by the local audit team. Data from Dec 2022 - Nov 2024 was used. 162 patients with Umbilical/ PUH and Epigastric hernias were included. The mean age was 42 and Mean BMI was 28. 147 patients had a planned elective repair whereas 15 had an emergency operation. Out of these 162 patients 152 had umbilical/ PUH and 10 had epigastric hernias. 154 patients had an open repair wand only 8 underwent a laparoscopic repair. Open suture group had 110 patients and mesh group had 44 out of which 41 had a sublay extraperitoneal repair and 3 had an on lay repair. 14 patients had complications such as seroma, hematoma formation, post op pneumonia and ileus. 1 patient required mesh excision and only 1 patient had recurrence. All 30 patients with 0-1 cm defect had suture repair. 126 patients had 1-4 cm defect size – 80 had suture repair and 46 had mesh repair. 9 patients had a defect size 4cm - 6 had mesh and 3 had suture repair. Most variation in repair technique was seen in patients with 1.5, 2, 2.5cm defects. Overall, correct approach used in most patients and good compliance seen with the EHS and AHS guidelines.
Khan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.