title: Laparoscopic versus open preperitoneal prosthetic herniorrhaphy for recurrent inguinal hernia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy (LH) shares the same repair principle as open preperitoneal prosthetic herniorrhaphy (PPH). Theoretically, the recurrence rate of LH for recurrent inguinal hernia will match the low recurrence rate of PPH (1.2-3%).
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred forty-five cases of recurrent inguinal hernia were retrospectively studied between 1990 and 1994. Forty-two cases receiving LH were compared to 103 cases receiving PPH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences in operative time, hospital stay, morbidity rate, satisfaction scale and recurrence rate between the LH group and the PPH group. The LH group showed significantly less postoperative pain and 2 times shorter convalescence (p<0.01). Unsuspected asymptomatic contralateral hernia was found in 4.8% of patients receiving LH. 11.9% of patients had bilateral hernia repairing at the same time in the LH group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LH is suitable for recurrent inguinal hernia, but further investigation of this technique is required before its wide application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Jou
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013526:Surgical Mesh