title: Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair; experience with 874 children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) in children has become an alternative to the open procedure. It is gaining popularity with more and more studies supporting its feasibility, safety, and efficacy. This is a retrospective study to present our experience with children who underwent LIHR.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1184 inguinal hernias were repaired laparoscopically in 874 children. They were 703 boys and 171 girls. Their mean age was 2.9 ± 2.1 years (range, 6-108 months). Six-hundred and twenty four opened internal inguinal rings (IIRs) were closed by transperitoneal purse string suture technique (TPP) and 560 opened IIRs were closed by percutaneous purse string suture with lateral umbilical ligament enforcement using Reverdin Needle (RN) technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All cases were completed laparoscopically without conversion. There were no serious intraoperative complications. Mean operating time, in TPP technique, was 15 ± 2.3 minutes for unilateral and 20 ± 1.7 minutes for bilateral inguinal hernia, while the mean operating time, in RN technique, was 8.7 ± 1.18 minutes for unilateral and 12.35 ± 2 minutes for bilateral hernia repair. The contralateral patent processus vaginalis (PPV) was present in 176 (20% of cases). Follow-up to date is 10-140 months (mean 80 ± 2.1 months). In the early stage of this study, the recurrence rate was 1.13%. In the last 450 cases, no recurrence occurred. Hydroceles occurred in 0.58% and no testicular atrophy or iatrogenic ascent of the testis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LIHR can be a routine procedure with results comparable to those of open procedures. Both recurrence and operative time are nearly equal or even less than that for the open procedure after gaining a learning curve and modifications of the techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: rafikshalaby@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Rafik
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shalaby
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Maged
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdelhady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Samaha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdelaziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yehya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Refaat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ibrahem
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gouda
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Helal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alsamahy
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008022:Ligaments / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D009339:Needles; D061646:Operative Time; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D006848:Testicular Hydrocele / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Congenital inguinal hernia; Laparoscopy; Lateral umbilical ligament; Reverdin needle