A study of inguinal hernia related with radical retropubic prostatectomy

Abstract

Radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) is considered to be a cause of provoking inguinal hernia. In this study we examined characteristics of patients with inguinal hernia after RRP in our hospital. We enrolled consecutive 77 male patients who were first operated on for inguinal hernia in our hospital from December 2005 to December 2008. They were divided into two groups according to their previous histories of undergoing RRP, the post-RRP group (n=14) and the control group (n=63), and were comparatively studied for involved site, cause, and procedures for the hernioplasty. No significant differences were noted in the patient side classification, but as for operative procedure used for repair, mesh-plug method was more frequently employed in the post-RRP group than the control group (85.7% vs. 31.7% with a significant difference).
It has been reported that procedures performed during RRP can impair the shutter mechanism of the internal inguinal canal and resultantly entail an increasing risk of indirect inguinal hernia. When RRP is scheduled for a patient with prostate cancer, we have to explain the possibility of having postoperative inguinal hernia to the patient, and we should also consider making a prophylactic repair of internal inguinal canal case by case.