title: What is the likelihood of requiring contralateral inguinal hernia repair after unilateral repair?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Factors that predispose patients to the development of inguinal hernias will persist after repair. This study aimed to determine the incidence of future contralateral hernia repair.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective review of a non-Medicare claims database (1999-2009) to identify patients billed for 2 asynchronous initial inguinal hernia repairs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this database, 7,050 patients were followed up for a mean of 3.6 years, 272 patients required a contralateral hernia repair. The mean time between hernia repairs was 2.9 years and the same surgeon repaired both hernias in 67.6%. Fifteen patients had incarcerated contralateral hernias (5.5%). Patients who required contralateral repairs were older (62.2 vs 59.6 y; P = .014) and had prostate disease (odds ratio, 1.45; P = .0001). The risk of needing a contralateral inguinal hernia repair at 5 and 10 years of follow-up evaluation was 2.5% and 3.8%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite a reported 8% to 22% incidence of clinically unsuspected contralateral inguinal hernia, the likelihood of undergoing contralateral repair within 10 years is low at 3.8%.
authors: Department of Surgery, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA. jjclark_md@yahoo.com
authors: Justin J
authors: JJ
authors: Clark
authors: Whitney
authors: W
authors: Limm
authors: Linda L
authors: LL
authors: Wong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006254:Hawaii / Q000453:epidemiology; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome