Repair of abdominal wall hernias in horses using primary closure and subcutaneous implantation of mesh.

Abdominal incisional hernias in over 40 horses were repaired by exposing the hernial sac and ring and closing the ring with absorbable, interrupted, inverted, cruciate sutures after inverting the hernial sac into the peritoneal cavity. A mesh was sutured, under tension, over the closed ring. Placing the mesh subcutaneously, rather than in the retroperitoneal space, simplified the dissection and minimised the likelihood of penetrating the peritoneal cavity, a problem common to techniques of hernia repair in which the mesh is implanted into the retroperitoneal space. Implanting the mesh subcutaneously created a strong repair, the typical result of which was a cosmetically acceptable, uniformly flat appearance to the ventral aspect of the abdomen. There were few complications and there was only one failure, due to the tissue surrounding the mesh becoming infected.