Over the past several years, the Department of Surgery Pilot Grant Program has supported a wide range of disease-oriented research among faculty and trainees. These projects explore ways to improve the quality and safety of surgical care. What follows is an update on one study funded in 2025 that has demonstrated meaningful progress and long-term potential to transform patient outcomes.
Study: Creation of an Evidence-Based Model for Physiotherapy-Enhanced Ventral Hernia Repair (IMPACT Study)
Patients who undergo orthopedic procedures, such as knee replacements, hip replacements or spine surgery, follow well-established rehabilitation protocols. The week-by-week progression is standardized, taught in physical therapy programs and practiced worldwide. Ventral hernia repair – which also involves a surgical implant placed into one of the body’s most functionally critical regions – has no equivalent standard.
Current recovery guidance varies widely from surgeon to surgeon and patient to patient. Some patients are told not to get out of bed for a week. Some are sent home with an abdominal compression garment. Some are told to do “whatever doesn’t hurt.” The same vague instructions are given to power lifters, warehouse workers, service members and desk workers alike.
“Ventral hernia repair is among the most common abdominal procedures,” explains Sami Tannouri, MD, MS, an abdominal wall and general surgeon at Jefferson. “A meaningful share of these patients will end up experiencing persistent pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, downstream spine issues and reduced function. Yet these long-term consequences have been undermeasured and under-managed, largely because we’ve lacked the interprofessional framework needed to address them.”
That’s the gap the IMPACT Study aims to close. Dr. Tannouri is collaborating on the study with Christopher Keating, PT, DPT, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, as well as Nicole L. Dugan, PT, DPT, and Trish Crane, PT, DPT, who specialize in pelvic floor therapy.
The team has already completed two foundational manuscripts – one defining the scope of the problem and one reviewing existing recovery recommendations – and used that work to shape a 12-week core rehabilitation protocol. The pilot grant funded the ultrasound equipment and database infrastructure needed to measure specific biomechanical markers in the clinic, turning the concept into a randomized clinical trial.
The trial, “The IMPACT Study: Personalized Physical Therapy for Better Recovery and a Stronger Core After Hernia Surgery,” is undergoing Institutional Review Board review, with recruitment targeted to begin in summer 2026. Eligible participants are adults ages 18 to 75 with a ventral hernia between 4 cm and 10 cm who are scheduled for elective repair. The long-term goal is to create a Jefferson-wide protocol for rehabilitating the core after abdominal wall reconstruction – and, ultimately, a model that can be adopted across the field.
Patients interested in participating in the trial should contact Dr. Tannouri’s practice (215-955-8666), as enrollment includes the hernia repair procedure.
If you wish to support the Department of Surgery Pilot Grant Program, please contact Kelly Austin at 215-955-6383 or kelly.austin@jefferson.edu.
2026 Department of Surgery Pilot Grant Awardees
Khaled Nouehed, MD, and Tyler Grenda, MD, MS
Robotic versus open diaphragm plication: A national analysis of perioperative and short-term outcomes using the STS general thoracic surgery database.
Lee Ocuin, MD
Impact of extended postoperative antibiotic therapy on clinically relevant pancreatic fistula after pancreatoduodenectomy in elevated risk glands: A multi-phase institutional analysis and prospective registry.
Michael Mazzei, MD
Anatomic exposures and team dynamics in a maximum-fidelity, perfused and ventilated cadaveric model of traumatic hemorrhage.
Ashesh P. Shah, MD
Identification of TCRs responsible for the allo- and xeno-immune response.
Recommended Citation
(2025)
"Pilot Grant Lays Groundwork for New Standard in Ventral Hernia Recovery,"
Jefferson Surgical Solutions: Vol. 21:
Iss.
2, Article 5.
Available at:
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jss/vol21/iss2/5
Co-investigators Christopher Keating, PT, DPT, PhD, and Sami Tannouri, MD, MS, are establishing personalized physical therapy protocols for patients recovering from ventral hernia repair.