Original article
Laparoscopic abdominal wall IPOM hernioplasty: a preliminary report

Introduction:
Every year over 13,000 people in Poland are operated on due to abdominal hernia. Incisional hernia occurred after 0.5-20% operations. Abdominal hernia operation may involve the classical or tension-free method with using synthetic material. Many complications after open operation such as infection and recurrence of hernia contributed to development of miniinvasive techniques like laparoscopic IPOM (intraperitoneal on-lay mesh) method. Aim: To present results of treatment of 7 patients after laparoscopic IPOM hernioplasty.
Materials and methods:
7 patients were operated on between November 2004 and May 2006 for incisional, umbilical and linea alba hernia. Laparoscopic IPOM technique was applied with using mesh covered unilateral by special antiadhesion material (Parietex, Dynamesh).
Results:
Postoperative period was uncomplicated in 5 cases. One operation was converted to open surgery because of hypercapnia and intraoperative respiratory failure. One patient presented symptoms of subileus on the second day after operation but he fully recovered after conservative treatment. There were no complications such as wound infection, recurrence of hernia or worsening quality of life in postoperative follow-up.
Conclusions:
Laparoscopic IPOM hernioplasty is interesting alternative to open surgery and an effective method of treatment of abdominal hernia. Preliminary results incline towards using of this method of operation in the future but the experience of other researchers is necessary.