[Simultaneous treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy and inguinal hernia: an old procedure revisited]

The association of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and inguinal hernia still pose the problem of the chronology of their repair. Indeed, first hernial repair without removing the cervicoprostatic obstruction exposes to a high rate of recurrence due to the dysuria. The objective of this work was to report our experience about the simultaneous cure of the BPH and inguinal hernia. We have performed a retrospective study including a non consecutive series of 92 patients presenting both BPH and inguinal hernia. Studied parameters was age, occupation, clinical symptoms, the procedure and operative continuations. Mean age was 70.22 years old, range from 57 to 90 years old. Past history of inguinal hernia repair was found in 18.5%. 19.13% had hernial recurrence while 6.5% had contralateral hernia. Main clinical features were inguinal mass (43.5%) and acute urinary retention (11.9%). The average weight of prostatic tumor was 87.1 g. Surgery was performed under spinal anaesthesia in 96.8%. All patients underwent suprapubic transvesical prostatectomy. Hernial repair was done according to Bassini procedure in 82.6%, Mac Way procedure in 14.2% and Forgues procedure in 3.2%. The overall morbidity rate was 15.2%. The hernial recurrence rate was 7.6%. There was no postoperative mortality. The simultaneous repair of BPH and inguinal hernia offers some advantages. First of all, it reduces considerably the anaesthetic risk owing to the importance of cardiovascular diseases in aging patients. On and other hand, the low recurrence rate of the hernia and the substantial savings are adjunct advantages. We conclude that simultaneous repair of BPH and inguinal hernia is simple, safe and economic.