Long-term follow-up of laparoscopic total extraperitoneal (TEP) repair in inguinal hernia without mesh fixation

From the current evidence, non-fixation of the mesh (NMF) in laparoscopic total extraperitoneal (TEP) repair appears to be a safe alternative for inguinal hernia patients in the short term. This study aims to demonstrate that NMF is as effective in the long term by following up a large number of patients with a mean follow-up of 6 years. The primary outcomes are chronic pain and recurrence rate.

A thorough review of medical records was conducted from a prospectively maintained database of 538 patients who underwent a laparoscopic TEP inguinal hernia repair by a single surgeon working in Sydney from the year 2005 to 2010. Patient demographics, perioperative outcomes, and postoperative complications were extracted from this database. All these patients were then interviewed using a modified questionnaire based on Franneby et al. [10].

538 patients had TEP repair between 2005 and 2010. Out of this 11 were excluded as tacks were used for fixation of mesh. Out of the 649 repairs done on 527 patients during this period, 463 hernia repairs in 387 patients could be followed up with a mean follow-up of 6 years and 4 months. The mean age of patients was 63 years. Overall, there were seven (1.5%) recurrences, and the incidence of chronic pain was 1%, however 2.9% patients in total complained of pain.

This is the only study in literature having a long-term follow-up of more than 5 years for the patients having inguinal hernia repair by TEP technique without mesh fixation. It demonstrates that fixation of mesh with tacks or glue is unnecessary for TEP repair of inguinal hernia.