Repair of recurrent peritoneopericardial hernia in a dog, using polypropylene mesh and an autologous pericardial flap

Abstract

© 2018, University of Zagreb, Facultty of Veterinary Medicine. All rights reserved. Peritoneopericardial hernia is a malformation which allows the protrusion of abdominal organs into the pericardial sac. Several methods of herniorrhaphy had been described in human and veterinary medicine, such as the usage of prosthetic patches, allografts and autologous grafts. The purpose of this study was to describe a new technique of herniorrhaphy, which combines two different materials for defect closure (nonautologouspolypropylene mesh and autologous-pericardial flap) in a case of recurrent peritoneopericardial hernia in a dog. A two-year-old, intact female Rhodesian Ridgeback was presented with an eight week history of respiratory problems, occasional coughing, vomiting, lethargy, body mass loss and icteric mucous membrane. The reason for using this technique was tension at hernial ring, which could have caused recurrence of the peritoneopericardial hernia. Polypropylene mesh was used in order to reinforce the herniorrhaphy and an autologous flap served as a barrier against mesh exposure to the epicardial surface. In our opinion, this method is safe with no complications observed, so therefore, it could be a suitable method for peritoneopericardial reherniation repair.