Clinical and Functional Outcome After Abdominal Wall Incisional Hernia Repair: Evaluation of Quality-of-Life Improvement and Comparison of Assessment Scales.

BACKGROUND: Hernias severely impact patient quality of life (QoL), and 80% of patients need surgical operation. The primary outcome of the study is to assess improvements in balance, posture and deambulation after abdominal hernia repair. Moreover, the study investigated the improvement in the postoperative QoL.

METHODS: Patients operated at the Policlinico "Paolo Giaccone" at Palermo University Hospital between June 2015 and June 2017 were identified in a prospective database. The functional outcome measures and QoL assessment scales used were numeric rating scale for pain, performance-oriented mobility assessment (POMA) scale, Quebec back pain disability scale, center of gravity (barycenter) variation evaluation, Short-Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36 test), sit-up test and Activities Assessment Scale (AAS). The timepoints at which the parameters listed were assessed for the study were 1 week before the surgical operation and 6 months later.

RESULTS: The POMA scale showed a significant improvement, with an overall preoperative score of (mean; SD) 18.80 ± 2.17 and a postoperative score of 23.56 ± 2.24 with a p < 0.003. The improvement of the barycenter was significant with p = 0.03 and 0.01 for the right and left inferior limbs, respectively. Finally, common daily activities reported by the SF-36 test and by the AAS were significantly improved with a reported p of ≤0.04 for 5 of eight items and ≤0.002 for all items, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The improvement in such physical measures proves the importance of abdominal wall restoration to recover functional activity in the muscle-skeletal complex balance, gait and movement performance.