Abdominal incisional hernia: retrospective study

Background: Incisional hernia presents as herniation or protrusion occurring along a prior abdominal scar. It is a known complication of abdominal surgery. They are the second most common type of hernia after inguinal hernias. This study was undertaken to study the incidence and various risk factors leading to incisional hernia.Methods: It is a retrospective study done in Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal; Department of Surgery during January 2017 to January 2018. All the cases were analyzed in various aspects like age, sex, relative incidence, clinical presentation, nature of previous operation, site of previous scar, precipitating factors like obesity, wound infection, abdominal distension.Results: The incidence is around 18.5%. Patients in the age group of 30-50 years found to have highest incidence of incisional hernia. Females outnumbered the males with the ratio of 6:1. Incisional hernia was more common in patients with previous history of gynecological operation. Most of the patients presented with incisional hernia in the infra umbilical region.Conclusions: Incisional hernias can be prevented by avoidance of midline incisions, especially in the infra umbilical region. Mesh repair results in less post-operative complications provided drains are used.