The primary objective of this study was to identify preoperative factors that could be associated with positive resection margins. We also tried to analyze the local recurrence and overall survival in patients who received conservative treatment for early-stage breast cancer and correlate these parameters with preoperative factors. A retrospective examination was conducted on the medical records and pathological reports of 143 patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer in our department from 2009 to 2017. Postoperative outcomes were assessed through phone contact and statistical analyses, including GraphPad Prism, and Fisher’s exact test, the Chi-square test, and the log-rank test were employed. The results revealed positive resection margins in 7.69% (11 cases) of the 143 patients, with an overall mortality rate of 16.66% for those with positive margins and 6.59% for those with negative margins. Statistical analysis indicated no significant differences in the overall (p = 0.5) or specific (p = 0.53) survival between the positive and negative margin groups. The positive margins were significantly associated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.0001) and the presence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (p = 0.01). Among the analyzed factors, two out of sixteen were significantly linked to positive resection margins in BCS, emphasizing their importance in surgical management planning for early-stage breast cancer.

Onlay and retromuscular sublay mesh repairs are the most frequently used procedures in open repair of midline incisional hernias. The onlay placement of the mesh is simple and fast to perform, while the sublay retromuscular repair offers a supplementary protection against infection, but it is considered a more complicated procedure with a higher risk of early postoperative complications. The personal experience of the surgeons plays an important role in choosing the technique of mesh placement. This paper presents the results of a retrospective analysis of 220 consecutive patients operated on in the Surgical Clinic of the Mures Clinical County Hospital (Romania) between 31.01.2017 - 31.12.2019 with sublay or onlay polypropylene mesh repair for ventral midline incisional hernia. The patients were divided into two groups according to the position of the mesh. The two groups were identical in terms of age, sex distribution, incidence of comorbidities (obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiac and respiratory diseases), number of previous operations and size of the defect (p value 0.05 for all the parameters). Results: Postoperative mortality was zero, with no statistically significant differences of the duration of the postoperative hospitalization between the two groups p 0.05. A total of 34 early reoperations were required for hematoma, skin necrosis, seroma, wound suppuration, and intestinal obstruction, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p 0.05 for the overall and separate incidence of each complication). The onlay placement of the mesh was associated with a later removal of the superficial drains p 0.0001 with a larger proportion of the patients who were discharged without removing the drains (group A 2/62 versus group B 141/168, p 0.0001). Conclusions: Both the onlay and the retromuscular sublay placement of polypropylene meshes may be used with good results for the treatment of midline incisional hernias. The lack of a supplementary early morbidity after the retromuscular sublay repair is an argument for a more frequent use of this technique which offers a supplementary protection against infection.