Covidien Hernia Mesh Implants Can Be a Danger to Your Health and Healing Following a Hernia Repair Surgery

Hernia operations are common surgical procedures that are used today to repair hernias. Some people may want to avoid the use of a hernia mesh, because of the many avenues for complications and issues related to the use of a hernia mesh surgery. In general, there can be many postoperative issues, problems, concerns and complaints that can result from the use of a hernia mesh. Some of the problems associated with hernia meshes to repair hernias can include:⁶

• Urinary retention
• Neurovascular injuries
• Visceral injuries
• Increased length of stay at the hospital
• Other risk factors
• Severe pain post-surgery
• Poor surgical outcomes
• Recurrence of the hernia
• Increased risk of new hernias
• Seroma
• Hematoma
• Wound infections
• Chronic pain
• Testicular atrophy

If you have been injured by the use of an implant with a Covidien hernia mesh, you can call our law office to discuss your claim. Here at the Law Offices of Gary K. Walch we can assist you in your time of need after a botched hernia repair surgery. We know that you are at a vulnerable time in your life, and that you are recovering from a surgical procedure, may be in pain, and need someone to talk to regarding your personal injury claim. We can assist you when you give us a call today. Our legal team is standing by to talk to you about your personal injury claim right now.

There are many other factors that can affect the poor patient outcomes if a Covidien hernia mesh is used for a hernia repair surgery. Some of these factors can produce serious and severe complications and are not under the immediate control of the patient at all. These factors can include:⁶

• The inexperience of the surgeon
• The operation going over one hour
• Increased risks of overall postoperative adverse reactions
• The use of local anesthesia
• Hernia type
• Size of hernia
• Gender of patient
• Body mass index of patient
• Obesity of patient
• Age of patient
• Smoking status of patient

If the surgeon repairing a hernia suggests the use of a hernia repair mesh, the patient always has the option of refusing to allow the mesh during the surgery. Some people prefer to have a hernia repair without the use of a hernia mesh. Unfortunately, studies show that in overweight patients who choose not to use hernia mesh and opt for a non-mesh hernial repair, these individuals are at a 68% increase in risk of needing a follow-up operation to repair a recurring hernia in those cases.⁶

Covidien hernia mesh products by Medtronic that are used in hernia repair surgeries include:

• Parietex™ Composite (PCO) Parastomal Mesh
• Parietex™ Composite Hiatal (PCO 2H) Mesh
• Parietex™ Hydrophilic Anatomical Mesh
• Parietex™ Folding Mesh
• Parietex™ Lightweight Monofilament Mesh
• Parietex™ Flat Sheet Mesh
• Dextile™ Anatomical Mesh
• Parietene™ DS Composite Mesh
• Versatex™ Monofilament Mesh
• Symbotex™ Composite Mesh
• ProGrip™ Laparoscopic Self-Fixating Mesh
• Parietex™ Composite Ventral Patch
• Parietex ProGrip™ Self-Fixating Mesh
• Parietex™ Optimized Composite (PCOx) Mesh
• Parietex™ Plug and Patch System
• Parietex™ Optimized Composite Open Skirt (PCO OSx) Mesh

The Covidien meshes are designed to be innovative, flexible, and to be fully applicable to inguinal, ventral and umbilical hernia surgical procedures, when combined with laparoscopic surgical treatments. The Covidien meshes have been reviewed by studies, and show that the Covidien meshes that are self-gripping can be considered a superior alternative to other polypropylene meshes in terms of strength for the hernial repair. But Covidien brand meshes also have issues related to complications that arise after the initial hernia surgical procedure.

The Covidien Parietex composite hernia mesh is useful for hernia repair surgical procedures. The Covidien mesh is meant to provide an intraabdominal laparoscopic repair of the patient’s abdominal wall defects and is supposed to cause fewer incidences of postoperative neuralgia.¹

The Covidien ParietexTM composite mesh is used frequently with obese patients who have primary ventral or incisional hernias.² If a person has a body mass index over 35-37 and is considered to be obese or overweight, the Covidien hernia mesh may be recommended to perform the hernia repair surgical procedure. But the Covidien hernia mesh may still have a recurrence rate of over 16% in obese patients who use this mesh to repair their hernias.

Bariatric surgeries are common today, and many overweight people who get a bariatric surgical procedure also have parietal wall defects that manifest themselves as hernias. These individuals get their hernias fixed with Covidien Parietex composite mesh products, because it is meant to work with the laparoscopic surgeries common for bariatric procedures. The surgical procedure to fix a hernia and management of the bariatric surgery can include: 3 ports for the laparoscopic equipment, the Covidien composite mesh, fixation with non-absorbable transfascial sutures and tackers, as part of the surgical procedure using this type of hernia mesh.³ But many people who use this hernia mesh have had postoperative complications, which can include parietal wall hematomas that need treatment with radiological embolization, and respiratory failures as a result of the surgical procedure. Additionally, other complications can include:

• High postoperative seromas
• Postoperative hemorrhage
• Port-site hernias
• Postoperative obstructions
• Postoperative pain at the site of the surgery
• Parietal wall defects after the surgery

In the event that you have had a “two for one” bariatric surgery and a hernia repair surgical procedure with Covidien mesh implants that have gone rogue, then you will want to call us today to review your personal injury claim. You can call us now at 866-INJURY2 (866-465-8792) to talk to a knowledgeable lawyer about your personal injury case right now.

The Covidien mesh is also used in the case of a ventral hernia repair during the laparoscopic procedure that is related to a uterine rupture in a pregnant woman. The Parietex mesh is a composite microporous polyester mesh that is used often for ventral hernial repairs, but can also repair defects on the posterior wall of the uterus.⁵ If a patient needs a complete resection of the fibrotic tissue near scar defects, can help expose healthy areas of the myometrium for repairs with the mesh.⁵ The myometrium can be repaired in a two layer procedure, not including the endometrium which is sutured to reinforce the repaired posterior myometrium.⁵

The Covidien mesh used in standard laparoscopic groin hernia repairs often cause chronic pain problems after the surgical procedure to implant the mesh into the person’s body. The Parietex ProGrip^TM is a self-gripping mesh that is used as totally extraperitoneal or TEP and transabdominal preperitoneal or TAPP, during groin hernial repairs.⁴ The complications that can accompany these surgeries can include:⁴

• Postoperative pain at the surgery site
• Numbness
• Formation of hematomas
• Surgical site infections
• Visceral injuries
• Bladder injuries
• Vascular injuries

The Covidien ProGrip mesh is a lightweight monofilament polyester that is meant to offer rapid and sufficient tissue growth around the mesh, while using an absorbable polylactic acid gripping system in the body where it is implanted.⁴ There are several factors to this system, which includes a large pore size in the mesh which can reduce foreign body adverse reactions to the implanted mesh, and the pores being large can help in better tissue integration of the mesh post-surgery.⁴ The gripping system on this mesh can help minimize complications later, because it has small grips that will allow the mesh to have self-adhesive properties. The Covidien mesh is used for open repairs, to allow low pain and low recurrence of hernias post-surgery.

If you have questions regarding the worth, value or settlement procedures related to a hernia mesh lawsuit, you need to call our law office today to talk about your concerns. We are available to take your call at the Law Offices of Gary K. Walch, and you can call us at 866-INJURY2 or 866-465-8792.

References

¹Caruso, F., Ciccarese, F., Cesana, G., Uccelli, M., Castello, G., & Olmi, S. (2017). Massive Incisional Hernia Repair with Parietex: Monocentric Analysis on 500 Cases Treated with a Laparoscopic Approach. Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques. Part A, 27(4), 388–392. https://doi.org/10.1089/lap.2016.0623

²de Vries, H. S., Smeeing, D., Lourens, H., Kruyt, P. M., & Mollen, R. M. H. G. (2019). Long-term clinical experience with laparoscopic ventral hernia repair using a ParietexTM composite mesh in severely obese and non-severe obese patients: a single center cohort study. Minimally Invasive Therapy & Allied Technologies: MITAT: Official Journal of the Society for Minimally Invasive Therapy, 28(5), 304–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645706.2018.1521431

³Marx, L., Raharimanantsoa, M., Mandala, S., D'Urso, A., Vix, M., & Mutter, D. (2014). Laparoscopic treatment of incisional and primary ventral hernia in morbidly obese patients with a BMI over 35. Surgical Endoscopy, 28(12), 3310–3314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-014-3607-6

⁴Ozmen, J., Choi, V., Hepburn, K., Hawkins, W., & Loi, K. (2015). Laparoscopic Totally Extraperitoneal Groin Hernia Repair Using a Self-Gripping Mesh: Clinical Results of 235 Primary and Recurrent Groin Hernias. Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques. Part A, 25(11), 915–919. https://doi.org/10.1089/lap.2015.0056

⁵Paul, P. G., Jayasankar, N., Shah, M., Sudhakar, M., & Paul, G. (2024). Repair of a chronic myometrial defect with successful pregnancy outcome. Fertility and sterility, 121(1), 123–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2023.09.014

⁶Sæter, A. H., Fonnes, S., Li, S., Rosenberg, J., & Andresen, K. (2023). Mesh versus non-mesh for emergency groin hernia repair. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11(11), CD015160. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD015160.pub2