Background: Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair is evolving rapidly worldwide to become a standard procedure. The purpose of this study was to compare the benefits, effectiveness, and postoperative outcome of laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) and intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) repair of ventral hernia.

Patients and methods: Prospectively collected data of 279 patients who underwent laparoscopic ventral hernia repair between January 2005 and December 2009, of whom 68 underwent TAPP and 211 underwent IPOM repair, were retrospectively reviewed. For each patient demographic, preoperative and postoperative data were studied. Statistical analysis was performed by Student's t-test, Fisher exact test, and chi-square test.

Results: The study included a total of 279 patients, of whom 68 underwent TAPP procedure and 211 underwent IPOM procedure. Both the groups were comparable in age, sex, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, mean fascial defect size, and mean size of mesh. Although the operating time was longer in TAPP group than IPOM group of patients, the overall cost of surgery in IPOM group ($752.3±355.7) was much higher than TAPP group ($903.6±28.0) of patients. Seroma formation was more common in IPOM group than TAPP group (8.5% versus 5.8%). There were 2 (2.9%) recurrences in TAPP group and 7 (3.3%) in IPOM group of patients. Mean postoperative hospital stay (1.5±0.6 versus 1.4±0.7 days, P=.35) and mean follow-up (22.7±13.4 versus 22.5±11.9 months, P=.90) were similar in both groups of patients.

Conclusion: Besides the cost-effectiveness of TAPP procedure, it reduces the risk of complication related to intra-abdominal position of mesh and fixating devices. Before we label the TAPP repair of ventral hernia as the first choice, a comparative multicentric prospective trial with IPOM repair is warranted.