Flexible tack for ventral hernia repair.

A mesh repair of a ventral hernia from the anterior approach is relatively difficult because it is necessary to fix the edge of the mesh from the hernial orifice. We developed a flexible tack for hernia repair, and used it for five lesions in four patients. The flexible tack allowed us to fix the edge of the mesh to the abdominal wall through the peritoneum without any complications. The durations of surgery were 123, 76, 124, and 89 min. We conclude that the flexible tack is useful device to perform hernia repair that provides an alternative to using mesh under the anterior approach.