Pain in the early postoperative period was inferior on the side where the self-adhesive mesh had been implanted (6.12 vs. 6.62, p=0.005 during the 1st postoperative day; 2.12 vs. 2.62, p=0.001 during the 7th postoperative day). Differences disappeared with the long-term evaluation (0.71 vs. 0.98, p=0.148 1 year after the surgery). The operative time was significantly shorter on the PPG mesh side (24.37 ± 5.1 in case of the PPG mesh and 29.66 ± 5.6 in case of the PLP mesh, p<0,001). Recurrence occurred in seven patients (7.8%), six of them (6.7%, CI 3.0-14.4) on the PPG mesh side and one (1.1%, CI 0.2-7.8) on the PLP side. These differences were not statistically significant (p=0.125) CONCLUSIONS: Although hernioplasty with self-adhesive mesh reduced early postoperative pain, this reduction was clinically irrelevant and it had no influence on chronic pain. There was a trend towards a higher recurrence rate when self-adhesive meshes were used, and although in this study differences were not statistically significant they should be confirmed in later studies using larger samples. Surgical procedures that do not need fixing sutures are promising, but further studies are needed before they become the gold standard of inguinal hernia repair.

Prevalence of NASH among patients with gallstones is lower than estimated previously, but NASH is frequent particularly in those patients with concurrent metabolic syndrome. The combination of an increased HOMA score with fatty liver on ultrasound has a good accuracy for predicting NASH in patients with gallstones.

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There is a lack of consensus about the surgical management of umbilical hernias. The aim of this study is to analyze the medium-term results of 934 umbilical hernia repairs. In this study, 934 patients with an umbilical hernia underwent surgery between 2004 and 2010, 599 (64.1%) of which were evaluated at least one year after the surgery. Complications, recurrence, and the reoperation rate were analyzed. Complications were observed in 5.7 per cent of the patients. With a mean follow-up time of 35.5 months, recurrence and reoperation rates were 3.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. A higher percentage of female patients (60.9 % vs 29 %, P = 0.001) and a longer follow-up time (47.4 vs 35 months, P = 0.037) were observed in patients who developed a recurrence. No significant differences were observed between complications and the reoperation rate in patients who underwent Ventralex® preperitoneal mesh reinforcement and suture repair; however, a trend toward a higher recurrence rate was observed in patients with suture repair (6.5 % vs 3.2 %, P = 0.082). Suture repair had lower recurrence and reoperation rates in patients with umbilical hernias less than 1 cm. Suture repair is an appropriate procedure for small umbilical hernias; however, for larger umbilical hernias, mesh reinforcement should be considered.