Acellular Dermal Matrix Provides Durable Long-Term Outcomes in Abdominal Wall Reconstruction: A Study of Patients with Over 60 Months of Follow-up

Background: Ventral hernia repair (VHR) is one of the most commonly performed procedures in the United States, but studies assessing the long-term outcomes of VHR using biologic mesh are scarce. Objective: We sought to determine the rates of hernia recurrence (HR) and surgical site occurrences (SSOs) in a large cohort of patients who underwent AWR with biologic mesh. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent AWR using either porcine ADM (PADM) or bovine ADM (BADM) from 2005 to 2019. We analyzed the full cohort and a subset of our population with minimum long-term follow-up (LTF) of 5 years. The primary outcome measure was HR. Secondary outcomes were SSOs. Results: We identified a total of 725 AWRs (49.5% PADM, 50.5% BADM). Mean age was 69 ± 11.5 years and mean body mass index was 31 ± 7 kg/m2. Forty-two percent of the defects were clean at the time of AWR, 44% were clean-contaminated, and 14% were contaminated/infected. Mean defect size was 180 ± 174 cm2, mean mesh size was 414 ± 203 cm2. Hernia recurred in 93 patients (13%), with cumulative HR rates of 4.9%, 13.5%, 17.3%, and 18.8% at 1, 3, 5, and 7 years, respectively. There were no differences in HR (P = 0.83) and SSO (P = 0.87) between the 2 mesh types. SSOs were identified in 27% of patients. In our LTF group (n = 162), the HR rate was 16%. Obesity, bridged repair, and concurrent stoma presence/creation were independent predictors of HR; component separation was protective against HR. Conclusions: Despite its use in complex AWR, ADM provides durable long-term outcomes with relatively low recurrence rates.