A novel laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair technique: single-port lateral non-abdominal pre-peritoneal approach

Open and endoscopic techniques have been described for the treatment of inguinal hernia, but the gold standard treatment method is yet to be defined. Recurrence rates after inguinal hernia surgery vary between 10 and 15%, and chronic pain is seen in 10-12% of patients. This study aimed to introduce a new surgical technique called lateral non-abdominal pre-peritoneal repair for inguinal hernia surgery.

We recorded the data of patients' age, gender, body mass index (BMI), prior hernia surgery, hernia side, type of hernia, postoperative complications, pain scores according to the numeric pain scale, and analgesic consumption. We performed a nearly 2 cm incision from approximately 2 cm medial and superior of the anterior superior iliac spine, then separated the peritoneum from the transverse abdominal muscle by blunt dissection, and perform the surgery by a single-port device.

Seventeen inguinal hernias were repaired with the new technique in 14 patients. Two of the patients were female. The median age was 59, and the mean BMI was 26.8 kg/m2. The median hospital stays and time passed since the surgery was 1 day and 72 days, respectively. The mean operative time was 64 ± 29 min. The median tramadol consumption was 100 mg, and the mean paracetamol consumption was 1143 mg. The median pain score on POD 1 and current pain score was 4 and 0, respectively.

No significant complications occurred intraoperatively. We observed the pain scores were acceptable on POD 1, and excellent in postoperative follow-up. Low pain scores, low analgesic consumption, and the absence of recurrence in a newly developed procedure within the learning curve indicate that satisfactory results can be obtained.