Inguinal Hernia Repair using Mosquito Net Cloth instead of Polypropylene Mesh- A Randomized Controlled Trial

Inguinal hernioplasty is the technique of using prosthetic material for repair of inguinal hernia. It is the most common method used for repair of inguinal hernia worldwide. In tension free hernioplasty, instead of suturing anatomic structures that are not in apposition, the entire defect is reinforced by a sheet of mesh. In industrialized and developed countries allopathic meshes are routinely used for inguinal hernia repair. However in under developed and developing countries, they may be quite expensive to a majority of the population. The routine used polypropylene mesh is very costly. Whereas a good quality mosquito net, is very much similar to the synthetic mesh for hernia repair available in the market and is very cheap. The net is made of copolymer of polypropylene and polyethylene and can be sterilized by autoclaving. The present study was undertaken to find out whether mosquito net can be used as an alternative to polypropylene mesh.A prospective study was conducted in the department of General Surgery at M.R.Bangur Hospital, Kolkata. Patients aged between 20 years to 60 years admitted for inguinal was chosen for the study. A total of 60 patients chosen. The data were statistically analyzed for prevalence of hernia among both the sexes, post operative pain, and other post operative complications between the two test groups using Chi-Square tests.So, it was concluded that Polyester mosquito net mesh represents a cost-effective alternative to hernia repair in developing countries, with short term complications like those of polypropylene mesh hernia repair.