Drain Vs Pressure Dressing in Mesh Repair for Paraumblical Hernia

AbstractBackground: The long standing history of para umbilical hernia repair from the recognition uptil now to its current management has significant contribution from different authors. Advancement in surgery has leads to more cases of para umbilical hernia and has required the need of new techniques and materials for para umbilical hernia Objective: To compare between drain vs pressure dressing in patient having mesh repair for paraumblical hernia Patients and methods: We have done a prospective study included a total of 26 patients with a followup on 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 12th post op day who were all complaining of an uncomplicated para umbilical hernia and all are treated with the onlay mesh technique. Also post op pain score was recorded as (0-3 mild, 4-6 moderate, 7-10 severe). Moreover post op discharge days were also recorded to analyse the number of days spent in patient in each category. 13 patients with suction drain placement and 13 patients with pressure dressing attending at surgical A unit Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Results: We have analysed that it can be observed that in terms of pain score, there is no difference between drain or pressure dressing. However in terms of post op complications, it is seen clearly that patients who had pressure dressing applied developed no complications. Post para umbilical hernia repair vs those who had drain put in post op. moreover patients with pressure dressings also had fewer days spent as inpatient vs those who had drain placed. Conclusion: Mesh repair remains the standard procedure for paraumblical hernias and use of drain among patients having mesh repair for para umbilical hernia resulted in post op complications and also more stay in hospital while those having pressure dressing had no complications and less duration of in-patient hospital stay. We suggest more trials on use of drain and pressure dressing in patients having paraumblical hernia repair with the inclusion of a larger number of cases and a longer period of followup. Key words: Paraumbilical hernia, Pressure dressing, onlay mesh technique.