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Robotic Inguinal Hernia: A Comprehensive Textbook
Abstract
Inguinal hernia surgery has evolved substantially in recent years. Although the open, tension-free mesh repair still reigns as standard of care and is the predominant method for inguinal hernia repair worldwide, there has been massive shift in surgical approach toward minimally invasive techniques. The robotic transabdominal preperitoneal repair marks the latest in surgical evolution to approach this common pathology. The introduction of the robotic surgical platform has sparked new interest and enthusiasm from the general surgical community surrounding hernia repair in general and particularly in inguinal hernia surgery.
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Groin hernia repair is a commonly performed surgical procedure in the western world but large-scaled epidemiologic data are sparse. Large-scale data on the occurrence of groin hernia repair may provide further understanding to the pathophysiology of groin hernia development. This study was undertaken to investigate the age and gender dependent prevalence of groin hernia repair.
In a nationwide register-based study, using data from the Civil Registration System covering all Danish citizens, we established a population-based cohort of all people living in Denmark on December 31(st), 2010. Within this population all groin hernia repairs during the past 5 years were identified using data from the ICD 10(th) edition in the Danish National Hospital Register.
The study population covered n = 5,639,885 persons. During the five years study period 46,717 groin hernia repairs were performed (88.6% males, 11.4% females). Inguinal hernias comprised 97% of groin hernia repairs (90.2% males, 9.8% females) and femoral hernias 3% of groin hernia repairs (29.8% males, 70.2% females). Patients between 0-5 years and 75-80 years constituted the two dominant groups for inguinal hernia repair. In contrast, the age-specific prevalence of femoral hernia repair increased steadily throughout life peaking at age 80-90 years in both men and women.
The age distribution of inguinal hernia repair is bimodal peaking at early childhood and old age, whereas the prevalence of femoral hernia repair increased steadily throughout life. This information can be used to formulate new hypotheses regarding disease etiology with regard to age and gender specifications.
IntroductionGuidelines are the bridge between science and clinical practice [1]. Science is a dynamic process and it is continuously evolving. Consequently, there is a continual development of new insights necessitation updates of existing guidelines. For this update, the authors concentrated on studies with level of 1 and 2 evidence. All references are marked with the level of evidence, according to the Oxford classification. In general “Recommendation Grade D” does not constitute a recommendation, but in some instances it is shown in the text to indicate lack of quality data. We recommended all readers to download the original statements and recommendations [2], for fully appreciation of the Update Guidelines on Laparoscopic Hernia Surgery.Updates should include issues that were not yet sufficiently covered in the original guidelines or those which have gained increased clinical importance. For this reason, the Update includes four new chapters: single port surgery, convalescence, co ...
The European Hernia Society (EHS) is proud to present the EHS Guidelines for the Treatment of Inguinal Hernia in Adult Patients. The Guidelines contain recommendations for the treatment of inguinal hernia from diagnosis till aftercare. They have been developed by a Working Group consisting of expert surgeons with representatives of 14 country members of the EHS. They are evidence-based and, when necessary, a consensus was reached among all members. The Guidelines have been reviewed by a Steering Committee. Before finalisation, feedback from different national hernia societies was obtained. The Appraisal of Guidelines for REsearch and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument was used by the Cochrane Association to validate the Guidelines. The Guidelines can be used to adjust local protocols, for training purposes and quality control. They will be revised in 2012 in order to keep them updated. In between revisions, it is the intention of the Working Group to provide every year, during the EHS annual congress, a short update of new high-level evidence (randomised controlled trials [RCTs] and meta-analyses). Developing guidelines leads to questions that remain to be answered by specific research. Therefore, we provide recommendations for further research that can be performed to raise the level of evidence concerning certain aspects of inguinal hernia treatment. In addition, a short summary, specifically for the general practitioner, is given. In order to increase the practical use of the Guidelines by consultants and residents, more details on the most important surgical techniques, local infiltration anaesthesia and a patient information sheet is provided. The most important challenge now will be the implementation of the Guidelines in daily surgical practice. This remains an important task for the EHS. The establishment of an EHS school for teaching inguinal hernia repair surgical techniques, including tips and tricks from experts to overcome the learning curve (especially in endoscopic repair), will be the next step. Working together on this project was a great learning experience, and it was worthwhile and fun. Cultural differences between members were easily overcome by educating each other, respecting different views and always coming back to the principles of evidence-based medicine. The members of the Working Group would like to thank the EHS board for their support and especially Ethicon for sponsoring the many meetings that were needed to finalise such an ambitious project.
Inguinal hemia repair is one of the most common operations undertaken in routine surgical practice. It generally carries a very low risk of major adverse sequelae. We analysed profiles, separately, for elective and emergency operations to report on the incidence and major adverse outcomes of inguinal hernia repair in a geographically defined population.
Age- and sex-specific hospital admission rates, emergency readmission rates within 30 days of discharge, and mortality rates, separately for elective and emergency operations, were calculated for the period 1976-1986 in the Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS) area.
In all, 30,675 inguinal hernia repairs were performed in the area, an all-ages annual incidence of 13 per 10,000 population. Some 9% of patients underwent operation in an emergency admission. Elective operation rates remained constant over time. Emergency repairs decreased significantly over time in males. Patients who underwent emergency repair were older, had higher emergency readmission rates than those undergoing elective repair, and had significantly elevated postoperative mortality rates. In those who died it was uncommon for inguinal hernia to be recorded on their death certificates. Of the operations, 91% were undertaken on males; age-specific rates were highest in infants and the elderly; and emergency operation rates rose exponentially with age in people > 50 years.
The lifetime 'risk' of inguinal hernia repair is high: at currently prevailing rates we estimate it at 27% for men and 3% for women. There is significant elevation of mortality after emergency operations. Elective repair of inguinal hernia should be undertaken soon after the diagnosis is made to minimize the risk of adverse outcomes.
Many men with inguinal hernia have minimal symptoms. Whether deferring surgical repair is a safe and acceptable option has not been assessed.
To compare pain and the physical component score (PCS) of the Short Form-36 Version 2 survey at 2 years in men with minimally symptomatic inguinal hernias treated with watchful waiting or surgical repair.
Randomized trial conducted January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2004, at 5 North American centers and enrolling 720 men (364 watchful waiting, 356 surgical repair) followed up for 2 to 4.5 years.
Watchful-waiting patients were followed up at 6 months and annually and watched for hernia symptoms; repair patients received standard open tension-free repair and were followed up at 3 and 6 months and annually.
Pain and discomfort interfering with usual activities at 2 years and change in PCS from baseline to 2 years. Secondary outcomes were complications, patient-reported pain, functional status, activity levels, and satisfaction with care.
Primary intention-to-treat outcomes were similar at 2 years for watchful waiting vs surgical repair: pain limiting activities (5.1% vs 2.2%, respectively; P = .06 [corrected]); PCS (improvement over baseline, 0.29 points vs 0.13 points; P = .79). Twenty-three percent of patients assigned to watchful waiting crossed over to receive surgical repair (increase in hernia-related pain was the most common reason offered); 17% assigned to receive repair crossed over to watchful waiting. Self-reported pain in watchful-waiting patients crossing over improved after repair. Occurrence of postoperative hernia-related complications was similar in patients who received repair as assigned and in watchful-waiting patients who crossed over. One watchful-waiting patient (0.3%) experienced acute hernia incarceration without strangulation within 2 years; a second had acute incarceration with bowel obstruction at 4 years, with a frequency of 1.8/1000 patient-years inclusive of patients followed up for as long as 4.5 years.
Watchful waiting is an acceptable option for men with minimally symptomatic inguinal hernias. Delaying surgical repair until symptoms increase is safe because acute hernia incarcerations occur rarely.Clinical Trials Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00263250.
BACKGROUND: Inguinal hernia repair is the most frequent operation in general surgery. Until recently the standard procedure has been open musculo-aponeurotic repair using sutures under tension to close the defect but 'tension-free' repair using prosthetic mesh is becoming increasingly common in many countries. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this review is to evaluate open mesh techniques in comparison with open non-mesh techniques for the surgical repair of groin hernia. SEARCH STRATEGY: Electronic databases were searched and further trials were sought from the reference lists of reports of known trials. Through the EU Hernia Trialists Collaboration authors of identified randomised controlled trials were asked for information on any other trials known to them. There was no language restriction. SELECTION CRITERIA: Studies were eligible for inclusion if they were randomised or quasi-randomised trials comparing either a) open mesh with open non-mesh repair of groin hernia or b) open flat mesh repair with plug and mesh repair of groin hernia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: For each outcome the results were derived using data from the best available source. The majority of data for this review came from individual patient data (IPD) supplied by the trialists. When these were unavailable data came from additional aggregated information or from published trial reports. All trials were analysed using the 'intention to treat' principle. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty trials comparing open mesh with open non-mesh repair were identified. Open mesh methods, on average, took 7-10 minutes less to perform than Shouldice procedures, but took 1-4 minutes longer than other non-mesh methods. There were no clear differences between mesh and non-mesh groups for haematomas, seromas or wound/superficial infections. Three serious operative complications were reported after open mesh repair and three following non-mesh repair. Overall, those in the mesh groups had a shorter length of hospital stay and quicker return to usual activities, but this pattern was not observed for all trials. There was a suggestion that persisting pain was less frequent after mesh repair than after non-mesh repair but this result was dependent on one trial and data were not available for 11 trials. There was no evidence of a difference between the groups with respect to persisting numbness. Fewer hernia recurrences were reported after mesh repair (Peto OR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.26 to 0.51). There were too few data to reliably address differential effects for patients with recurrent, bilateral or femoral hernias. Two trials comparing flat mesh with plug and mesh were identified. There was no clear evidence of differences between the groups. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence that the use of open mesh repair is associated with a reduction in the risk of recurrence of between 50% and 75%. Although the trials were heterogeneous there is also some evidence of quicker return to work and of lower rates of persisting pain following mesh repair.
The original Bassini and Shouldice methods for inguinal herniorrhaphy were tested against each other and against their respective variants that avoid permanent suturing of the internal oblique muscle. Seven hundred fifty inguinal hernia repairs were prospectively allocated to 1 of 4 groups: group A: Bassini with absorbable sutures (polyglycolic acid); group B: Bassini with nonabsorbable sutures (polyester); group C: Shouldice with four rows of polypropylene sutures; and group D: Shouldice with two rows of polypropylene sutures. Outcome was correlated to prospectively defined types and risk factors such as direct hernia, repair for recurrent hernia, hernial sac diameter greater than 8 cm, age greater than 70 years, overweight, and chronic bronchitis. Actual (not actuarial) recurrence rates were determined through clinical examination by hospital staff surgeons (not through information by letter or phone) for 93.6% of surviving patients. Local complications exclusive of recurrence, but including the redoubtable and litigious sequelae of testicular atrophy and chronic ilioinguinal pain, were significantly reduced from 6.3% (group B and C) to 2.3% by omitting permanent muscle sutures (groups A and D; P < 0.05). However, the use of slowly absorbable suture material resulted in a disproportionately high recurrence rate of 12.8% in the modified Bassini group A. The original Bassini method, ie, division of the transversalis fascia and repair with nonabsorbable sutures, as was used in group B, had an actual 2-year recurrence rate of 8.7%, still a highly significant difference compared with 3.6% and 2.3% for Shouldice groups C and D, respectively (P = 0.012). For repair of recurrent hernia, the superiority of the Shouldice technique was not statistically significant: re-recurrence rate 7.6% versus 13.5% for the original Bassini group B. Repair of recurrent hernia was the only patient-related risk factor of equal significance as the method of repair. The Shouldice technique is superior to and more than merely a reinvention of Bassini's original method. The omission of muscle sutures is physiologically sound and recommended for the Shouldice operation.
Inguinal hernia is one of the most common surgical pathologies. Research studies on clinical factors predisposing a person for the development of inguinal hernia, however, remain scarce. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the risk factors for the development of inguinal hernia in adult males, using a case-control design in a hospital-based population.
Between January 2002 and January 2004, a total of 1,418 male patients were recruited at the general surgical or hernia clinic of a University-affiliated teaching hospital. Patients were divided into case and control groups according to the presence of a primary inguinal hernia. Each patient was interviewed by a research assistant using a standardized questionnaire. Clinical data were studied by multivariate, logistic regression analyses to identify independent predictors of inguinal hernia in adult males.
Clinical factors associated with the presence of inguinal hernia included a higher work activity index (P = 0.03), a higher total activity index (P = 0.01), a positive family history of inguinal hernia (P < 0.01, odds ratio = 8.73), and chronic obstructive airway disease (P = 0.04, odds ratio = 2.04). After adjustments for the type of hernia, chronic obstructive airway disease was a risk factor only for direct hernia, whereas total activity index and family history of hernia remained significantly related to both direct and indirect hernias. On logistic regression analyses, positive family history of hernia was the only independent predictor for inguinal hernia.
Family history of hernia was the most important determinant factor for developing inguinal hernia in adult males. A male subject who has a positive family history of hernia is 8 times more likely to develop a primary inguinal hernia.
European hernia society guidelines on the treatment of inguinal hernia in adult patients
- M P Simons
- T Aufenacker
- M Bay-Nielsen
- MP Simons