A multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing short- and medium-term outcomes of novel biologics and lightweight synthetic mesh for laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair

The use of biological graft in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) has been controversial, and there is a lack of high-level evidence to confirm the value of biological graft in LIHR. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel composite biologics in LIHR.

A multicenter, single-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial was designed. Fifty patients with unilateral primary inguinal hernia were randomly assigned to the experimental and control group (1:1). The experimental group was repaired with a non-crosslinked composite extracellular matrix from porcine urinary bladder matrix and small intestinal submucosa (UBM/SIS). The control group was repaired with a lightweight, large-pore, synthetic mesh. The primary endpoint was the effectiveness rate of hernia repair.

The patients were followed up for four years. No significant difference was found between the experimental group and the control group in the effective rate of hernia repair (24/24[100%] vs 21/22[95.45%], RR, 0.4667; 95%CI, 0.3294–2.304; P = 0.4783). There was no fever, seroma, infection, groin pain, foreign body discomfort or recurrence in the experimental group during the follow-up. In the control group, there were 2 cases of seroma 14 days after operation, 1 case of groin discomfort 60 days after operation and one case of recurrence 410 days after surgery.

Compared with the lightweight synthetic mesh, the novel UBM/SIS graft has comparable short-term and medium-term effectiveness in LIHR, and the incidence of postoperative complications such as seroma groin discomfort is lower.

Trial registration Clinical Trials Registry: ChiCTR1800020173.