title: Randomised trial comparing Lichtenstein vs Trabucco vs Valenti techniques in inguinal hernia repair.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Following Lichtenstein's technique, over the last 15 years several variation have been proposed, such as Trabucco's sutureless technique and the use of two self-regulating prostheses, proposed by Valenti that have given excellent results. The aim of this prospective and randomised study was to determine whether there are differences in the results obtained with these three techniques.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 812 patients submitted to inguinal hernia repair, we selected and randomised 162 patients into three groups of 54 patients each: Lichtenstein (Group L), Trabucco (Group T) and Valenti (Group V). Surgical procedures were performed in all cases by residents in surgery using local anaesthesia. Primary endpoint was intensity of postoperative pain. Median follow-up was 8 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The primary analysis of postoperative pain at 48 h did not report any significant difference between the three groups as for secondary analyses except that the Trabucco procedure took less operative time than the Lichtenstein, and the Valenti group was more painful than the Lichtenstein group at the third postoperative day. In our series median operation time was 60 min. Recurrence rate was 1.85%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgical repair of inguinal hernia according to the Lichtenstein, Trabucco and Valenti techniques is safe and easy to perform regardless of the surgical experience of the operator, with excellent results and no differences due to technique used as regards almost all of the parameters studied.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Via Álvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128, Rome, Italy, v.ripetti@unicampus.it.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ripetti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: La Vaccara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bono
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valeri
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coppola
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D005260:Female; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061646:Operative Time; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D016896:Treatment Outcome