The PolySoft hernia patch used with the ONSTEP technique to treat inguinal hernias

The PolySoft hernia patch with the ONSTEP technique would be presented as an option in the standard clinical pathway for surgical inguinal hernia repair.

Two published case series involving 698 and 80 patients have reported initial experience of using the PolySoft hernia patch with the accompanying ONSTEP surgical technique for inguinal hernia repair.

The authors of the larger of these studies compared their findings on duration of surgery with those from a separate study of another open total extraperitoneal approach hernia repair technique, suggesting that the duration was reduced.

Both studies recommended more extensive comparisons of hernia repair techniques over a longer follow‑up period to establish efficacy.

Five types of complications were reported in both the identified studies. These included haematoma and residual pain. Initial use shows complication rates (of 0.7% and 7.5%) to be potentially lower than those of other open total extraperitoneal and Lichtenstein techniques.

The PolySoft hernia patch used with the ONSTEP technique has an NHS acquisition cost of £116.30 per box excluding VAT. Each repair needs 1 box. No evidence on cost and resource use was available.

The PolySoft hernia patch with the ONSTEP technique would be used within general surgery for inguinal hernia repair by surgeons with suitable training and experience.