title: Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy versus traditional open repair at a community hospital.
abstract: Over a 2-year period 157 inguinal hernias in 151 patients were consecutively entered in this descriptive, observational study to determine any difference in outcome between a laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair versus an open inguinal hernia repair in a community hospital setting. The laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal technique was utilized in 50 cases. A conventional open repair was used in 107 cases. There were statistically significant differences when the laparoscopic and open groups were compared for the number of days until driving a car (p < 0.01), the number of days until getting in and out of bed comfortably (p = 0.01), the number of days until working on a limited basis (p = 0.01), and the number of days until working on a full-time basis (p < 0.05), although these differences may be due to confounding factors in this nonrandomized study. The average length of operating time was 72.2 min laparoscopic versus 51.6 min open (p < 0.001). We have shown that laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs may have benefits over conventional hernia repairs. This may make its use more widespread than it has already become.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lukaszczyk
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Preletz
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Morrow
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Tachovsky
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Krall
mesh_terms: D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006550:Hernia, Femoral / Q000601:surgery; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome