Taping for Umbilical Hernia
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Taping of the umbilical hernia.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Umbilical Hernia. Basic parameters: 1 months — 3 months · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Switzerland
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Taping for Umbilical Hernia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Overview
Umbilical hernias in infants are very common and in most cases disappear on their own by school age. If this does not happen, surgery may be necessary. Until then, the umbilical hernia is usually only observed and not treated. This approach is currently considered the medical standard. With this study, the investigators want to find out whether taping the umbilical hernia causes it to disappear more quickly. The investigators also want to know whether taping leads to less frequent protruding belly buttons (fewer "outies") and whether taping can cause a change in the quality of life of the parents. The investigatorsare therefore planning a study in which they will randomly divide patients into groups (observation versus taping) and examine the infants at 6 and 12 months of age. In addition to our physical examinations, the parents will each fill out a questionnaire about any stress they may be experiencing due to the umbilical hernia.
Interventions
- Procedure Taping of the umbilical hernia
The study intervention is taping of the umbilical hernia. Patients parents of the treatment group shall be instructed by our physiotherapist on how to perform umbilical hernia taping. A parent information sheet on the standardized application of taping will be provided. Umbilical hernia taping involves reducing the prolapse beneath the level of the abdominal wall and applying multiple medical tapes to apply long-lasting and light pressure on the umbilicus as to prevent the hernia from protruding
Primary outcome measures
- Umbilical hernia closure rates at 6 months [Time frame: at 6 months of age]
Secondary outcome measures (6)
- Umbilical hernia closure rates at 12 months of age [Time frame: At 12 months of age]
- Occurrence of complications of umbilical hernias within the first 12 months [Time frame: Until 12 months of age]
- Diameter of umbilical fascial defect at all visits [Time frame: Measured at each visit (first visit, at 6 months and at 12 months of age)]
- Parental health-related quality of life assessed by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) Family Impact Module [Time frame: Measured at each visit (first visit, at 6 months and at 12 months of age)]
- Parental satisfaction of the appearance of the umbilicus after closure of the fascial ring assessed by the Infant Umbilical score [Time frame: Measured only if and after umbilical fascial closure occurs at either 6 or 12 months]
- Blinded surgeons assessment of the appearance of the umbilicus after closure of the fascial ring assessed by the Infant Umbilical score [Time frame: at 12 months of age]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Infants with protruding umbilical hernias with a visible protrusion above the level of the abdominal wall
- Infants over 1 month of age and under 3 months of age
- If the patient is born prematurely (<37 0/7 weeks) it has to also be at least 4 weeks old AND over 32 weeks postmenstrual age (see below) and younger than 52 weeks postmenstrual age (i.e. 3 months of corrected age)
- Legal custodian gives consent to participation in study
Exclusion criteria
- Umbilical abnormalities, such as stump still in place, continuing wet umbilicus or umbilical granuloma
- Premature infants younger than 32 weeks of postmenstrual age
- Patients with known underlying skin diseases in whom taping may cause extensive skin damage, such as Epidermolysis bullosa
- Patients after suture-less closure of gastroschisis
- Patients in whom the umbilical tapes cannot be positioned as per study protocol, e.g. in patients with intestinal ostomies.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Switzerland · 1 center
- University Children's Hospital of Zurich — Zurich
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07735260 · 1003 · BASEC 2025-01453