[Late results following inguinal or femoral hernia surgery]

In a retrospective analysis the late results--mean follow-up 13.2 years--after herniotomy and Bassini repair are presented. The results of 837 interventions were evaluated with a questionnaire and among these 341 were clinically controlled. The overall recurrence rate was 10.5% with a cumulative recurrence rate of 26% after the first two years and 88% within 10 years. A testicular atrophy was observed in 1.1% and in 1.6% patients complained of pain in the groin or presented an entrapment of the nervus ilio-inguinalis. The personally conducted clinical evaluation showed a recurrence rate of 23%, a testicular atrophy in 1.2% and an entrapment in 2.9%. The recurrence rate was independent of sex, age, localisation, type of hernia, increased intraabdominal pressure or experience of the operator. Our results confirm that recurrences are only depicted by a clinical guided control after a sufficiently long follow-up period.