2017 Volume 53 Issue 4 Pages 905-910
Purpose: Recently, Laparoscopic percutaneous extraperitoneal closure (LPEC) has been selected for hernia patients in many institutions. In our department, this technique has been adopted as a standard technique for pediatric inguinal hernia (IH) since 2007. The aim of this study is to evaluate the advantages of LPEC by comparing it with Potts’ procedure.
Methods: The subjects were 792 patients who underwent surgery for pediatric IH in our department between 2002 and 2015. Of these, 400 who underwent LPEC, which was introduced in June 2007, were assigned to Group L, and 392 who underwent Potts’ procedure were assigned to Group P. The clinical records were compared between the two groups.
Results: Among patients with unilateral hernia, the mean durations of surgery in Groups L and P were 45.8 and 41.4 min, respectively, showing a significant difference. On the other hand, among those with bilateral hernia, they were 54.8 and 83.2 min, respectively; it was significantly shorter in Group L. In 125 of 362 patients diagnosed with unilateral IH before surgery in Group L, the intraoperative findings suggested CPPV. The onset of contralateral hernia was detected in 1.7% with unilateral hernia in Group L and in 10.4% with unilateral hernia in Group P. In Group L, the incidence of postoperative contralateral hernia was significantly lower. The recurrence rates were similar between the two groups.
Conclusions: LPEC may shorten the duration of surgery for bilateral IH and reduce the incidence of postoperative contralateral hernia, with a low incidence of intra-/postoperative complications. Therefore, LPEC may be highly safe and useful.
