OBJECTIVETo evaluate the surgical strategy for laparoscopic approach in recurrent inguinal hernia repair.

METHODSBetween January 2001 and December 2011, the clinical data of 213 patients with 225 recurrent inguinal hernias underwent laparoscopic repair were retrospectively analyzed. There were 202 male and 11 female patients and their average age were (67 ± 14) years old (range 22-97 years old). The surgical methods included laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair (TAPP, n = 174), total extraperitoneal herniorrhaphy (TEP, n = 41) and intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM, n = 10). The follow-up period ranged from 15 to 60 months (median 42 months). No patient lost to follow-up during the investigation.

RESULTSThe 48 TAPP and 26 TEP were applied to 77 (32.9%) recurrent hernias after conventional suture repair; 23 TAPP and 15 TEP were utilized to 38 (16.9%) recurrent hernias after Lichtenstein repair; 90 TAPP and 1 IPOM were employed for 91 (40.4%) recurrent hernias after Patch and Plug repair; and the other 22 (9.8%) recurrent hernias after preperitoneal repair were repaired by using 13 TAPP and 9 IPOM techniques. No conversion to open surgery was observed. The average operative time was (39 ± 14) minutes (range 15-90 minutes). No patients required analgesia postoperatively. The postoperative average VAS score was 2.4 ± 1.1 (range 1.2-6.4). The average hospital stay was (1.7 ± 1.5) days (range 1-9 days), and the patients returned to unrestricted activities in 2 weeks was 99.6% (212 cases). No recurrence was observed during the follow-up. The accumulative postoperative complications rates was 11.1% (25 cases), with 1 severe complication (surgical intervention was needed) as intraabdominal infection (0.4%), as well as other 24 complications including 15 cases of seroma (6.7%), 5 cases of urinary retention (2.2%), 3 cases with transient paresthesia (1.3%) and 1 case with paralytic ileus (0.4%).

CONCLUSIONSTAPP and TEP are both feasible and efficacious techniques to treat recurrent hernias after suture repair and Lichtenstein repair, while the choice depends on surgeons' experience. Most recurrent hernias after Patch and Plug repair could be treated successfully by TAPP but TEP technique is not encouraged. For recurrences after preperitoneal repair, the TAPP repair should be recommended as first choice, while IPOM is a good technique to cope with the cases which TAPP failed.