BACKGROUND: An incisional lumbar hernia after a flank incision is a problem in hernia surgery. In recent decades preperitoneal prosthetic herniorrhaphy became a widely accepted procedure for abdominal wall hernias, but there are no reports with more than 6 cases. To evaluate outcome and technique of repair the flank hernias we reviewed our data on every patient who underwent this type of repair. METHODS: We identified 20 patients who underwent hernia repair after incisional or traumatic hernia of the flank within the last 10 years. All the patients were followed in the General Surgery Service of de ISCMPA/ FFFCMPA. RESULTS: Using information from the database, we analyze 20 cases of lumbar hérnia. The majority (19 cases) were incisional hernias, only one was traumatic. The right side was affected in 14 cases and the left in 6 cases. The median followup was 60 months (5-72), although 7 cases have no follow-up. There was no failure during a follow-up 6 months to 8 years. However, one patient remained with weakness on flank, two presented seroma and that varied betwwen one presented wound infection. CONCLUSION: We authors recommend the conventional intervention instead of a laparoscopic one, in which a primary repair was used in cases of diameters up to 5 cm. In case of wider diameters it becomes mandatory to approach borders without tension, otherwise prosthetic material should be adopted.
Hernia; ventral; Lumbosacral region
