Comparison of different durations of physical activity restrictions following incisional hernia repair in sublay technique, the 3N6 trial: A prospective clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Incisional hernias (IH) occur in 4 to 20% of cases following abdominal surgeries, often after laparotomies. In the US, there are 4 to 5 million laparotomies performed per year, which could lead to 400.000 to 1.000.000 IHs. Therefore, this disease accounts as an important social-economic factor. Furthermore, these hernias can lead to bowel incarcerations, chronic pain, and a decrease in quality of life. To guarantee sufficient wound healing and decrease the recurrence rate, physical activity restrictions (PAR) are recommended. The standard recommendations for PAR seem to vary from 0 to 12 weeks, but the evidence remains low due to a lack of clinical trials. Conducting the study at hand, we aim to provide more evidence on this topic.

METHODS: The 3N6 trial will be conducted as a national multicenter prospective trial with two study groups (n = 90), where the goal is to find matched pairs within the two groups. Patients who underwent open incisional hernia repair (IHR) in sublay technique will be enrolled. A patient in the 3-week PAR group will be matched to a patient in the 6-week PAR group based on heavy lifting, male gender, BMI > 30, and large hernia >7 cm. The primary endpoint is the duration of sick leave that patients require to return to work, by comparing PAR of 6 weeks with PAR of 3 weeks. The secondary endpoints are the recurrence rate, seroma formation, and chronic pain one year after surgery and postoperative complications within 30 days using Clavien-Dindo-classification.

DISSEMINATION: The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. We may also present the findings at local and/or national conferences.