Outcomes of laparoscopic surgery for groin hernia repair: Our experience in Tunisia

Groin hernia in adults is a frequent affection in digestive surgery. Many repair techniques have been described to date, including laparoscopic surgery. Two methods are quickly adopted by the various practitioners for the surgical treatment of groin hernia using laparoscopy: laparoscopic totally extra-peritoneal (TEP) technique and laparoscopic transperitoneal inguinal hernia repair (TAPP). This study focused on the feasibility of groin hernia repair using coelioscopy, aiming to describe its outcomes in terms of recurrence and postoperative pain. We conducted a single-center, retrospective and cross-sectional study of patients who had undergone laparoscopic surgery for groin hernia repair in the Department of Surgery at La Rabta Hospital over a period of 8 years, from January 2006 to December 2013. The main evaluation criterion was hernia recurrence. Postoperative pain and complications were the secondary criteria of judgment. We collected data from 92 patients with 104 hernias, respecting the inclusion criteria in our study. The average age of patients was 48 years (19-83). TAPP was the most used technique: 94 TAPP (90%) versus 10 TEP. No intraoperative complication was reported. Conversion rate was 0. Operative mortality was also 0. Postoperative morbidity was 5% (5 patients). It included hematoma in 3 cases and serum in 2 cases. The mean lenght of stay in hospital was 1.2 days (1-4 days). Postoperative length of stay didn’t exceed 2 days in 94% of patients. Only 2 patients had a recurrence. Postoperative chronic pain was reported only in 3 patients. Our study shows that laparoscopic surgery for groin hernia repair gives considerable comfort to our patients with regard to pain, length of stay in hospital and cessation of work. Outcomes are good and consistent with the results already published in the literature. This encourages surgeons to use these techniques and to monitor longer term outcomes.