Abstract
Purpose: Simultaneous repair of bilateral inguinal hernias remains controversial for some surgeons because of the increased risk of postoperative pain, wound complications, or recurrences. The current study reports a retrospective study comparing unilateral hernia repair versus simultaneous bilateral inguinal hernia repair.
Materials and Methods: Demographic features, additional diseases, type of anesthesia, operating time, hospital stay, developed complications, required analgesics, returning time to basic activity in postoperative period and recurrence rates of the patients with unilateral (Group-1; n=495, 84.3%) and simultaneous inguinal hernia repairs (Group-2; n=92, 15.7%) were evaluated retrospectively.
Results: Mean operating time was longer in Group-2 (p=0.001). There was no difference in mean hospital stay (p=0.606), complication rates (p=0.715), postoperative analgesia requirements (p=1.000) and recurrence rates (p=0.302) between the groups but returning time to basic activity was significantly shorter in Group-1 (p=0.001). The mean follow-up time was 40.1 in Group-1 and 35.1 months in Group-2 (p=0.051).
Conclusions: We believe that a tension-free technique allows bilateral inguinal hernias to be repaired in one operation, and result in similar outcomes as a unilateral tension-free repair.
Keywords:
Inguinal Hernia, Bilateral, Repair
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