Kugel Mesh One Big Mess

Madison, WIRuss Tribble developed a ventral hernia and in April 2006 it was repaired using Kugel Mesh. Three surgeries and six months later, the wound still hadn't healed.

"I believe that Kugel Mesh was the cause of these repetitive surgeries," says Russ. "Right after the first surgery I had stabbing pains; the weird thing is that, after they finally took out the mesh, the pains went away."

Russ is fortunate that the mesh was removed. After his initial surgery, he had to go back to the hospital a few weeks later and have the staples removed. Shortly afterward, while driving to Vermont from his home in Madison, the wound re-opened. "Luckily my wife was with me and we stopped at the nearest town, found a drug store and grabbed some dressings," he says. "We changed the dressing several times a day and because I am on a blood thinner, this was very dangerous.

We made it to Vermont where I had to work - I was a medic with the army and had a few weeks of work here with the National Guard. After a few days the wound wasn't healing so I called my doctor and he told me to go directly to ER in Colchester, Vermont. Once there, they did a culture and found out that the wound was infected; they put me on antibiotics and said I had to go back to the hospital every few days to have the dressing changed. As you can imagine, this was very difficult with my job, but I did it for those two weeks.

Back in Madison I met with my surgeon and he determined that the wound was still infected. This time it would need to be cleaned out surgically, which meant yet another operation. In July I had the second surgery; the Kugel Mesh was left in and I was placed on wound-vac, which helps a wound heal. Everything seemed to be going well and I was taken off wound-vac. Right away, the wound re-opened, again. The third surgery was done by a different surgeon and I was back on wound-vac but to this day, part of the wound is still open and not completely healed.

I remember my surgeon telling me, just before my first surgery, that there was this new mesh on the market that he wanted to try. As well, he said that because it was a new mesh, he wasn't sure that the hospital was going to pay for it. But if they didn't cover it, he would make arrangements with the manufacturers of Kugel Mesh. He made some reference to the Kugel Mesh sales representative being present during my surgery. I guess that is why the rep was there - they paid the bill.

After reading about and researching Kugel Mesh, I really believe this was the cause of my repetitive surgeries and my wound not healing. I have had open heart surgery and cancer surgery in the past and I had no problem after those operations. Thank goodness Kugel Mesh wasn't used in those surgeries.

It never dawned on me at the time that my problem could be due to this mesh. I know they put in a large piece of mesh and possibly part of it was infected and left in during my second surgery. I want to tell the medical profession to stop using Kugel Mesh until they figure out what is wrong with it. And I would like to know if the one I have is part of the recall."

A Kugel Mesh lawyer can obtain Russ Tribble's surgical records and determine if his Kugel mesh is listed on the FDA recall dated March, 2006. According to the recall notification, the "memory recoil ring" that opens the Composix Kugel Mesh Patch after it has been inserted into the intra-abdominal space can break, which can lead to bowel perforations and/or abnormal connections or passageways between the intestines and other organs.

The FDA urges patients who have been implanted with a Kugel Mesh Patch during hernia surgery to seek medical attention immediately if they "experience symptoms that could be associated with ring breakage such as unexplained or persistent abdominal pain, fever, tenderness at the implant site or other unusual symptoms."