Prospective Study to Visualize Dynamesh ® IPOM Visible Mesh With MRI After Laparoscopic Intraperitoneal Ventral Hernia Repair.

INTRODUCTION:

The repair of ventral hernias always goes along with a discussion about placing the optimal mesh, the optimum mesh position and the optimal fixation method of the mesh against the abdominal wall. There are a lot of meshes available of different materials, in different sizes and with different properties.

Penetrating fixation methods of the mesh have a strong positioning as result, but often at the cost of increased acute postoperative pain. Less or non-permanent (absorbable) fixation may decrease pain but should not risk a less stable mesh fixation ongoing with recurrence due to mesh shifting of mesh shrinkage.

It is indeed known that the majority of implanted meshes do shrink to an extent, which may be of disadvantage for the patient. This has already been demonstrated in several animal studies, but clinical information on the mesh shrinkage is rare and mostly a result from revised surgery.

All ordinary meshes for repair of abdominal hernia defects, based on polymeric textile, are invisible to conventional imaging techniques, inclusive "magnetic resonance imaging" (MRI). The IPOM mesh visible (Dynamesh®), developed by a unique method, contains an amount of iron particles, woven in the ordinary structure of the mesh, which allows an imaging in the MRI.