blog.forSurgeons

Surgery Blog for Surgeons

Open vs. laparoscopic mesh repair of inguinal hernia


This mid 2004 multicenter trial is very interesting because of the high relevance in the daily practice of surgery.

The conclusion is straight and clear:

...for primary hernias, the open technique of tension-free repair is superior to the laparoscopic technique, both in terms of recurrence rates and in terms of safety.

In the center I work in, the laparoscopic hernia repair was abandoned years ago because our head of the department argued exactly as the question is discussed in this publication. Nevertheless people who learned surgery in his center and then became head of departments elsewhere, began performing laparoscopic hernia repairs, mainly because of the pressure exerted by the patients willing to be operated laparoscopically.
This trial shows that compromising the own experience because of the patients will could be not of benefit for the lesser.