: Postoperative pain or recovery at 3 weeks after repair of midline incisional hernias does not differ between LR and OR, but the LR results in better physical function and less surgical site infections than the OR does. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00472537).

Patients with incisional hernia benefit substantially from surgery concerning QoL, independent of surgical technique. An event-free recovery occurred frequently after laparoscopic surgery. SF-36 seems well suited for assessing surgical outcome in patients after incisional hernia repair.