title: Early Belgian experience with the Kugel patch inguinal hernia repair.
abstract: The Kugel hernia repair is an open but minimally invasive, tension free repair, offering the advantages of a preperitoneal repair without the need for general anaesthesia. We report our initial experience with this technique in 25 inguinal hernia repairs. Operating time averaged 40 +/- 16 min, and one complication, a bladder tear, occurred intra-operatively. Patients were discharged after a median of 2 days and were then seen after 3 weeks and after at least one year. Three weeks postoperatively, there were two superficial skin inflammations and one haematoma. One year post-operatively no recurrences occurred but two patients complained of persistent inguinodynia. The Kugel hernia repair is a relatively new technique with a short operating time and minimal postoperative pain, but a learning curve, comparable to that of TEP has to be overcome in order to reproduce the results of its inventor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Academisch Ziekenhuis-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoste
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Van Nieuwenhove
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vierendeels
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D011126:Polypropylenes; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D011126:Polypropylenes