3 minutes of readingBombayFebruary 3, 2026 22:06 IST
Written by Purnima Sah
A 75-year-old woman recovered after undergoing complex abdominal wall reconstruction surgery for recurrent massive incisional hernia at Medicover Hospital, Kharghar, Navi. Bombaythe doctors said.
The patient, Surekha Patil (name changed), visited the hospital’s outpatient department on November 14, 2025 with extensive abdominal swelling that had worsened significantly over the past two years. She had already undergone three hernia surgeries in the past, but the swelling kept returning, leaving her in constant discomfort, heaviness and pain.
She was admitted for surgery on December 19, 2025 and was discharged on December 24, 2025, after a good recovery. The operation lasted approximately four hours and he was able to walk the next day, resume a normal diet within two days, and return home within five days with a healed wound.
Incisional hernias occur when the abdominal wall weakens at the site of a previous surgical incision. Risk factors include multiple surgeries that weaken muscles over time, age-related loss of muscle strength, delayed treatment that allows the defect to enlarge, and the lack of advanced reconstruction techniques in previous repairs. While incisional hernias affect up to 20% of patients after abdominal surgery, recurrent giant hernias, with defects larger than 15 cm and organs displaced outside the cavity, are rare and medically significant.
A team of gastrointestinal and hernia surgeons, Dr Nitin Tawte, Dr Chirag Vaja and Dr Sarang Bajpai from the hospital, performed the complex procedure using a three-step approach: Botox injections to relax the abdominal muscles, progressive pneumoperitoneum to expand the abdominal cavity and separation of components with mesh reinforcement to reconstruct the abdominal wall.
Dr Tawte said: “This was a very challenging case because the patient had already undergone multiple surgeries and the abdominal wall defect was extremely large. Since there was also age-related loss of muscle strength and delayed treatment that allowed the defect to grow, our primary goal was to safely reposition all the organs back within the abdomen and reconstruct the abdominal wall to provide long-term strength and stability.”
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The patient said: “I had been suffering for years and feared that the swelling would never go away. I was experiencing constant discomfort, heaviness and pain, and the condition severely affected my daily movements and my independence in carrying out simple activities such as walking, sitting or standing for long periods. Life seemed extremely difficult and exhausting, and I had developed constant fear and anxiety thinking that my condition would only worsen further, especially after three failed surgeries before this, which left me physically weak and emotionally distressed. After the surgery, “I feel much lighter and healthier.”