Comparison of Sublay and Onlay Mesh Repair in Terms of Post-Operative Complications

Objective: To compare Sublay and Onlay mesh repair in terms of post-operative complications among patients undergoing hernioplasty. Study Design: Prospective comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Surgical Department, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2020 to Jun 2021. Methodology: This study was conducted on 300 patients who underwent hernioplasty for anterior abdominal wall hernias at our hospital. They were randomly divided into two groups before the surgery. Group-A received only mesh repair, while Group-B received subway repair. They were followed up for two weeks for any post-operative complications. Post-operative pain, seroma formation, hematoma formation and the presence of surgical site infection were compared in both groups. Results: Out of 300 patients included in the final analysis, 189(63%) were male, and 111(37%) were female. About 163(54.4%) underwent subway repair, while 137(45.6%) underwent only repair. The commonest complication observed in patients was post-operative pain 68(22.7%), followed by surgical site infection 36(12%). Statistical analysis revealed that seroma formation, post-operative pain and surgical site infection were significantly observed more in patients undergoing only mesh repair than subway repair (p-value<0.05). Conclusion: Post-surgical complications were commonly observed in patients within two weeks of surgery. In addition, patients undergoing Onlay mesh repair were more prone to have seroma formation, post-operative pain and surgical site infection than those undergoing Sublay repair.