Clinical Research Directory

The IMPACT Study: Personalized Physical Therapy for Better Recovery and a Stronger Core After Hernia Surgery

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of a tailored physical therapy (PT) intervention targeting Abdominal Core Health components in patients recovering from ventral hernia repair. The study focuses on patients aged 18-75 diagnosed with a ventral transverse hernia between 4 cm and 10 cm, scheduled for elective Ventral Hernia Repair (VHR). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Will tailored PT significantly improve abdominal core strength, biomechanical stability, and functional mobility compared to usual care at 3-months post-surgery? * Will tailored PT lead to higher patient-reported quality of life and satisfaction scores, with a lower incidence of post-operative complications such as bowel obstruction and pelvic floor dysfunction over a 1-year follow-up? * Will tailored PT result in decreased healthcare utilization, leading to overall cost savings or neutrality compared to usual care over the first year after VHR? Researchers will compare the tailored physical therapy group to a usual care group to see if the tailored intervention leads to significant improvements in clinical efficacy, patient outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Participants will: * Be randomly assigned to either the Usual Care Group or the PT Group. * If in the Usual Care Group, receive standard post-operative instructions for 12 weeks, including guidance on binder use, safe lifting, and gradual return to activities. * If in the PT Group, receive foundational post-operative instructions for the first 2 weeks (similar to usual care). Undergo 6 structured and individualized PT sessions over 10 weeks if in the PT Group, with progression based on Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20) scores, including Symptom Modulation, Movement Control, Functional Optimization, or Impairment-Based interventions. Participants undergo data collection at 2 weeks, 12 weeks, and 1 year post-operation, including imaging, functional mobility tests, pain scales, patient-reported outcomes, physical measurements, and tracking of complications and healthcare utilization. Participate in semi-structured interviews after the 12-week assessment to provide qualitative insights into their experiences and perceived barriers/facilitators.

Shear-Wave Elastography

Prospective cohort study of patients with midline ventral incisional hernia with a range of hernia morphology who plan to undergo open retromuscular VHR. Study groups: Study groups are selected across a range of morphology and based on factors known or suspected to affect the ability to achieve fascial closure. Control groups: The study plans to enlist 5 volunteers with no incisional hernia or prior laparotomy to establish internal baseline SWE values and interrater reliability. The study will also plan to recruit 5 patients undergoing primary laparotomy in order to correlate SWE findings with closure tension.

Robotic Versus Open Comparison in the Surgical Treatment of Wide Abdominal Wall heRnias (ROCSTAR)

In the treatment of ventral incisional hernias, a mesh repair in the retromuscular plane is considered as the gold standard. To allow for adequate medialization of the fascial borders and a complete closure of the defect in case of large incisional hernias, component separation techniques are increasingly being used. When compared to anterior component separation, posterior component separation by transversus abdominis release (TAR) seems to decrease postoperative wound problems. While laparoscopic techniques pose significant difficulties to perform TAR minimally invasively (mainly due to ergonomic and technical reasons), these limitations seem to be overcome by robotic platforms. Initial retrospective patient series report on significantly shorter postoperative hospital stay and fewer complications after robotic transversus abdominis release (rTAR), when compared to open transversus abdominis release (oTAR). High-quality prospective evidence on rTAR is currently lacking.

Only Mesh Fixation With Glue of Ventral/Incisional Laparoscopic Hernia Repair

This multicenter randomized controlled non-inferiority trial of only mesh fixation with a glue applicator is a trial to evaluate the outcomes between atraumatic laparoscopic mesh fixation with GLUTACK-Glubran2® and conventional traumatic fixation, so the primary endpoint of the study is to analyze the recurrence on ventral or incisional hernia repair 2 years postoperatively assessed by a clinical and/or imaging technique.