Early versus late inguinal hernia repair in extremely low-birthweight infants.
OBJECTIVE
Compare outcomes of extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) infants following early (before discharge) versus late (after discharge) inguinal hernia (IH) repair.


METHODS
In a retrospective study of ELBW infants with IH, data were abstracted for clinical characteristics, IH and related outcomes.


RESULTS
Of the 39/252 (15.4%) ELBW infants who developed IH, those with early (59%) versus late (41%) repair were comparable in birth weight (753 ± 158 versus 744 ± 131 g, p = 0.84), gestation age (26 ± 2 versus 26.2 ± 2 weeks, p = 0.92), with comparable rate of broncopulmonary dysplasia (87% versus 75%, p = 0.41), but early repair group had prolonged respiratory support (60.6 ± 28.6 versus 39 ± 30 days, p = 0.032). Both groups had comparable diagnosis to repair interval (51.2 ± 29.2 versus 60.5 ± 30.6 days, p = 0.38) and early repair group has earlier corrected gestation (41.6 ± 3.9 versus 45.4 ± 4.6 weeks, p < 0.01) at time of repair. Post-IH repair complications (incarceration, postoperative apnea, infections, recurrence and testicular atrophy) were not different.


CONCLUSIONS
We did not find significant differences in outcomes of IH in early and late repair groups of ELBW infants.
a Department of Pediatrics , Division of Neonatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center , Cleveland , OH , USA.|b Department of Pediatrics , Division of Neonatal- Perinatal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston , Houston , TX , USA and.
Rajesh
R
Pandey
a Department of Pediatrics , Division of Neonatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center , Cleveland , OH , USA.
Joleen
J
Dako
c School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland , OH , USA.
Sarah
S
Venus
a Department of Pediatrics , Division of Neonatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center , Cleveland , OH , USA.
Deepak
D
Kumar
a Department of Pediatrics , Division of Neonatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center , Cleveland , OH , USA.
Maroun
M
Mhanna
D005260:Female; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
Extremely low-birthweight infants; inguinal hernia; inguinal hernia repair; prematurity