title: [Surgical treatment of inguinal hernia using a "tension-free" technique and local anesthesia. Initial experience].
abstract: Between January, 1991 and December, 1993, 208 subjects with monolateral and 19 with bilateral inguinal hernia were submitted to herniorrhaphy. Thirty-four were recurrent hernias. All but one bilateral hernias were treated at the same time. Eight cases were operated in emergency condition for acute strangulated hernia. Two-hundred and ten operations were performed under local, 17 under general and 1 under spinal anesthesia. Herniorrhaphy was performed in 14 cases with the Bassini and in 38 with the Shouldice technique. In 191 instances the "tension-free" and in 3 the "plug" techniques were adopted utilizing a polypropylene mesh. Following local anesthesia 13 episodes of bradycardia with hypotension were recorded during the operation and 4 in the early postop period. There were no general complications. Two elderly patients developed urinary retention following general anesthesia. Local complications included 6 (2.4%) cases of infection and 4 (1.6%) cases of hematoma of the wound, and 5 (2.0%) cases of edema with infiltration of the cord. Percentage of follow-up at 1, 2 and 3 years was 96, 95, and 93 percent respectively. Five recurrences were recorded: in 1 case following Bassini repair (7.6%), in 2 following Shouldice (5.6%), and in 2 following tension-free (1.5%). Local anesthesia has been confirmed to be well accepted by the patients, effective an safe, especially in the elderly patients with high operative risk. Similarly, the tension-free hernioplasty has been confirmed as a simple, easily reproducible technique, followed by less pain and disability as compared with other types of herniorrhaphies, and more effective mainly in the treatment of recurrent hernia.
authors.affiliation: Clinica Chirurgica B dell'Università, Ospedale S. Martino, Genova.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gianetta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cuneo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marinari
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mondini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbondati
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D005260:Female; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000379:methods