Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair at Toyoko Hospital—A Non-inferiority Study

Abstract

We conducted a retrospective, single-center study to test our notion that laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) mesh repair of inguinal hernia is not inferior to open repair via anterior approach. Patient characteristics and short-term treatment outcomes were compared between 142 patients with 153 defects treated by TAPP repair between January 2010 and December 2015 and 100 patients with 104 defects treated by open anterior repair between September 2008 and December 2015. Patients in the TAPP group were significantly younger than patients in the open repair group. Operation time was significantly longer in the TAPP group at 102.8 minutes, but the blood loss volume did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. Conversion from TAPP repair to open repair was necessary for 6 patients, and this was because of adhesions found intraoperatively in all 6. Significantly fewer postoperative analgesics were used by patients in the TAPP group. Hydrocele occurred as a postoperative complication in both groups, and postoperative recurrence was observed in 2 patients in the TAPP group, but the complication rate did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. Although the TAPP procedure lengthened the repair time, the absence of a significant difference in postoperative complications confirms that TAPP repair compares favorably with open anterior repair.