[Complications of inguinal hernia repair]

It's shown by literature and confirmed by Author's experience that, on account of the excellent results, prosthetic repair of inguinal hernia is more effective than "conventional" (Bassini, Mc Vay, Shouldice). Between January 1993 and December 2000 were observed 875 patients with inguinal hernia (814 monolateral, 61 bilateral); all patients underwent a Lichtenstein repair both in the primary version and in its variations (internal ring plastic, trasversalis plicate, plug repair). The patients were discharged from hospital within 24 hours after surgery in 90% of cases. No important intraoperative complications were observed; the patients restarting work varied from 3 to 15 days after the discharging in relation to patient anxiety, onset of complications and to the type of work. The complications observed were: urine retention (1.6%), superficial haematoma (1.3%), superficial infection (1%), wound suppuration (0.5%), serous effusion (0.7%), postsurgery pain (2.1%), scrotal edema (1.7%), persistent inguinal neuralgia (0.6), local hypoesthesia (4.3%), ischemical orchitis (0.1%), recurrence (0.2%). In conclusion Authors assert that "tension free" repair allows optimal results both for the surgery point (easiness of the technique, repeatability, less invasivity, scanty incident of recurrences, low frequency of postoperative complications) and in economic terms, allowing an early mobilization of the patients. A further improvement would be obtained with more care in surgical and patient management, with more excellent results.