The indications for use of biological mesh prostheses are very limited because of their high cost, but include parietal repair in a contaminated setting. Their efficacy has been questioned by several recent studies. We therefore studied the results of all of our patients who received a biological prosthesis, including hernia recurrence and infectious complications.

We retrospectively reviewed the outcomes of 68 patients who underwent biological prosthesis placement from 2009 to 2015 in a single center.

The site of implantation was on the anterior abdominal wall in 49 (72%) of cases, in the pelvis in 19 (28%). The median follow-up was 19 months. In the early post-operative period, 22 (32.3%) of patients presented with wall abscess; eight (11.7%) underwent surgical revision and seven (10.2%) underwent interventional radiological drainage. In the medium term, 41/56 (73%) had a late complication; 32 (57%) of the patients developed recurrent herniation and 15 (26.7%) of them were re-operated. In addition, nine (16%) of patients developed a late surgical site infection and eight (14.2%) a chronic residual infection. In multivariate analysis, the risk factors for recurrence were parastomal hernia (P=0.007) and a history of recurrent hernia (P=0.002).

A majority of patients developed recurrent incisional herniation in the medium term. This puts the use of biological prostheses into question. These results need to be compared to those of semi-absorbable prostheses.