| Summary: | Introduction: There is the obscurity of published data on surgical management of external abdominal wall hernias in our environment. This study was, therefore, to describe the pattern, outcome, and experience in the surgical management of anterior abdominal wall hernias in Shisong, Cameroon.
Methods: This was a descriptive retrospective study conducted at St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital, Shisong. The various cases of abdominal wall hernias performed in the hospital during the study period of three years covering January 2017 to December 2019 by the surgical teams were included. We ensured that Ethical clearance and written informed consent were obtained before the start of the project. Information includes detailed sociodemographic data collected and analyzed by using SPSS 22 statistical software.
Results: 465 cases of various abdominal wall hernias were included in this study. The most common type of hernia was indirect inguinal hernia (86.5%), and one rare Spigelian hernia was also there. The sub-arachnoid block was the most prevalent form of anesthesia. The various surgical procedures performed, including herniotomy (8.7%), hernioplasty (38.7%), and herniorrhaphy (28.6%), which were done for various inguinal hernias. In contrast, only mesh repair (9%) was performed for epigastric, lumbar, umbilical, Spigelian, and incisional hernia. Amongst the inguinal hernias, 55.2% were right-sided, 40.6% were left-sided, and 4.2% were bilateral, whereas 50% each of femoral hernia was left and right-sided. Overall, the annual recurrence rate for groin hernia was 1.9%.
Conclusion: Inguinal Hernia was the most common type of hernia (86.3%). Among the inguinal hernia, the right side was more common (58.42%). The adoption of newer modalities of care should be considered standard. However, in resource-constrained settings like ours in Cameroon, the goal should be to perform a skillful and technically effective technique. Also, it is critical to ensure adequate anesthesia for optimal post-operative pain control, coupled with minimal morbidity.
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