a comparative study of three-dimensional and polypropylene meshes in laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal inguinal hernia repairs

Introduction: inguinal hernia repair is a common surgical procedure that results in different patient outcomes. this study compared outcomes of laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (tapp) inguinal hernia repairs using three-dimensional (3d) mesh and polypropylene mesh.material and methods: a descriptive-analytical study was conducted on patients with inguinal hernia referred to imam hossein hospital, tehran, iran. this study selected two groups of 40 people who underwent tapp laparoscopy using 3d meshes and polypropylene by convenience sampling method. based on medical records, demographic and clinical data of patients and outcomes after surgery were recorded. mann-whitney u, chi-square, and fisher exact tests were performed to evaluate the variables’ associations. all data was analyzed using spss (version 16.0) and boxplots were designed using graphpad prism, version 8.0.1. the significant level was considered less than 0.05.results: the mean age of individuals in the 3d mesh and polypropylene mesh groups was 53.10±8.72 and 53.15±13.69 years, respectively, and in both groups, 32 (80%) patients were male. the pain mean scores in the 3d group were significantly higher than in the polypropylene group (5.5 vs 4.5, p=0.004). the median surgical time in the polypropylene group was significantly lower than in the 3d group (40.0 vs 42.5 min, p=0.041). the walking time among the 3d group (5.0, iqr: 5.0 to 6.0 hours) was significantly higher than in the polypropylene group (5.0, iqr: 4.0 to 5.8 hours; p=0.025). moreover, the duration of hospital stay and the incidence of postoperative complications, such as ecchymosis, seroma, foreign body sensations, numbness, and neuralgia, were not significantly different between the two studied groups (p>0.05). the infection and hernia recurrence were not observed in either group.conclusion: the study indicated that 3d mesh in laparoscopic tapp hernia repair may lead to slightly higher postoperative pain and longer surgery time. however, it did not significantly affect complications or hernia recurrence.