BACKGROUND: Ventral hernia repair is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures worldwide. To reduce the risk of complications, patient prehabilitation has received increasing focus in recent years. To assess prehabilitation measures, this European Hernia Society endorsed project was launched. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the current literature on patient prehabilitation prior to ventral hernia repair. METHODS: The strategies examined were optimization of renal disease, obesity, nutrition, physical exercise, COPD, diabetes and smoking cessation. For each topic, a separate literature search was conducted, allowing for seven different sub-reviews. RESULTS: A limited amount of well-conducted research studies evaluating prehabilitation prior to ventral hernia surgery was found. The primary findings showed that smoking cessation and weight loss for obese patients led to reduced risks of complications after abdominal wall reconstruction. CONCLUSION: Prehabilitation prior to ventral hernia repair may be widely used; however, the literature supporting its use is limited. Future studies evaluating the impact of prehabilitation before ventral hernia surgery are warranted.

3rd Department of Surgery and 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University Motol University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Abdominal Wall Surgery Unit Department of General Surgery Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona Spain

Department for General and HPB Surgery and Liver Transplantation University Hospital Gent Gent Belgium

Department of Surgery P Valdoni Sapienza University Rome Italy

Department of Surgery University of Genoa Genoa Italy

Digestive Disease Center Bispebjerg University Hospital Bispebjerg Bakke 23 2400 Copenhagen NV Denmark

Ospedale Policlinico San Martino IRCCS Genoa Italy

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Exploring the link between poor oral hygiene and mesh infection after hernia repair: a systematic review and proposed best practices

The European Hernia Society Prehabilitation Project: A Systematic Review of Intra-Operative Prevention Strategies for Surgical Site Occurrences in Ventral Hernia Surgery