Outcomes of Ventral Hernia Repair in Solid Organ Transplant Patients: A Regression Analysis of the National Inpatient Sample

Background: Solid organ transplant has been identified as an independent risk factor in ventral hernia repair. Previous studies have generally focused on case studies or small samples. We sought to investigate the impact of liver or kidney transplant on ventral hernia repair outcomes using a nationally representative sample. Methods: The National Inpatient Sample was used to identify ventral hernia repairs from years 2005 to 2014. We then divided them into two groups, patients with prior solid organ transplant and those without, and used logistic regression to analyze the effect of this variable on outcomes. We then investigated the relationship between various comorbidities and 30-d outcomes of surgery in both groups after adjusting for comorbidities. The primary outcome we looked at was mortality, with secondary outcomes such as length of stay and various surgical complications. Results: We compared two groups consisting of patients with prior transplant (n = 3317) and patients without (n = 372,775) and found that patients with prior liver or kidney transplant did not have higher mortality rates and also did not have longer lengths of stay. In addition, in terms of preoperative variables, patients with transplant were more likely to have the following comorbidities: cardiac arrhythmia, chronic blood loss anemia, chronic pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, depression, metastatic cancer, obesity, psychoses, solid tumor without metastasis, and weight loss. Diabetes was associated with higher mortality in transplant patients. Conclusions: Patients without prior liver or kidney transplant did not have higher mortality rates or lengths of stay.