Posted by Hernia MD (herniamd) on July 14, 2008, 8:50 pm
24.63.3.X
As some of you have seen, "Plugger" below asked a question about a recent article in the Journal "Hernia" regarding one surgeons experience with the Bard Plug & Patch. As most of you have noticed on this board, MANY people have had problems and their lives ruined by this faulty device (GSDM for example). The results in this article are out of line what most of us "hernia experts" have seen with the Plug & Patch. Having said that, Dr. Arthur Gilbert, the brainchild of the PHS and UHS from Miami, wrote a reply to this article. I doubt anyone on this board can get easy access to this article and I will post most of his response, word for word below: (Hernia 2008 12:323)
"Millikan reports his results in a large personal series of unilateral hernia repairs.
Some unanswered questions arise regarding the use and action of the plug-shaped device he described. First, how do its outer petals become expanded and remain so in the preperitoneal space without the surgeon having previously created a pocket sufficient for them to open? This essential step is undeniable in all other preperitoneal mesh repairs. Second, in other series concerning polypropylene plugs removed for chronic pain, thoses plugs were found to be very hard and densely shrunken by infiltrated fibrous tissue. I find it highly imaginative to have the reader believe that the petals of this device open and close spontaneously in concert with the patient's motion or position. Third, this plug, as with all preperitoneal mesh repairs, comes in direct contact with the three major structures that eventually pass through the deep inguinal ring to comprise the spermatic cord. Fourth, this report does not mention using this technique for the repair of recurrent or bilateral groin hernias. That coupled with the author's conclusion "that this is a safe and efficacious treatment modality for the unilateral primary inguinal hernias", leaves one to wonder if this was an oversight or why it would not be equally effective if used in recurrent and bilateral hernias."
This was the meat of his response. With so many better alternative mesh devices and techniques, one must wonder why production of the flawed Plug & Patch continues.
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