Abstract
With a recent increased use of tension-free hernioplasty for inguinal hernia, clinical cases of late-onset mesh infection have increasingly reported. We have experienced a case of late-onset mesh infection after Kugel patch inguinal hernia repair treated by removal of the infected mesh, in which transient paralysis of the adductor muscle of the leg occurred after the mesh removal.
A 77-year-old woman, who had been treated for pelvic abscess about 40 years earlier, underwent a Kugel patch repair for right inguinal hernia. She visited our hospital because of discomfort in the right groin one year eight months after the hernia operation. Because a CT scan demonstrated the abscess formation beneath the transverse abdominal muscle at the right inguinal region, she was diagnosed as having late-onset “Kugel patch” infection. We performed an incisional drainage of the abscess, but failed in the treatment. Three years ten months after the inguinal hernia operation, the infected Kugel patch was completely removed. She developed paralysis of the right adductor muscle of the leg at the third postoperative day. She was discharged from the hospital in the condition that the muscle strength was almost restored after two months of rehabilitation. There were no signs of recurrence of hernia and infection event and the strength of the right adductor muscle was completely restored, as of two years after the removal of the infected mesh.
