[Results of surgical treatment of hiatal hernia]

Hiatus hernias are considered as the most prominent form of diaphragmatic hernias. The passage is defined through the oesophageal hiatus, resulting in a superdiaphragmatic displacement of parts of the stomach or the complete stomach, respectively. In our work we investigated the treatment of partial thoracic stomach with both open and minimally invasive surgical procedures emphasising the view on operating data, the success of the surgery and recurrence rates. Patients with mesh insertion for hernia defect closures were considered separately.

94 Patients were treated in the period from 01.01.2003 to 01.06.2010. The ratio male/female was 2 : 1. The median age was 66 years. All data were prospectively collected by means of surgical protocols and data from the central patient records and analysed retrospectively. The statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 18.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Any existing significances were determined using the T-test.

Of the 94 patients, 65 were operated laparoscopically. In the case of nine patients an initial laparoscopic surgery had to be changed to an open procedure. The reasons for switching surgical procedures were splenic bleeding in the case of 2 patients, intestinal injury due to perforation by the trocar in one case and unclear surgical situs in 6 cases. The postoperative complication rate was 24 %. The main reasons were a delayed achievement of passage. The mortality rate was 0 %. The comparison between laparoscopic and open groups showed, by comparable complication and recurrence rates, a shorter recovery time in favour of patients operated on laparoscopically. Additionally it can be stated that a bridge closure with mesh (ePTFE) had no significant influence on the postoperative outcome. Therefore we cannot confirm the postulated poor postoperative results of other groups.

In summary, the clear trend in the surgical treatment of hiatus hernias is to minimally invasive surgery. Only for patients with multiple previous operations, who are expected to have strong adhesions, the operation with comparable morbidity and mortality rates can also be planned primarily as open. In this case, however, longer postoperative recovery times must be expected. Large defects can be treated with comparable complication and recurrence rates by mesh insertion (ePTFE).