Laparoscopic needle assisted extracorporeal repair of inguinal hernia in children: our experience

Purpose: Despite of some controversy, laparoscopic repair of inguinal hernia has emerged recently as an alternative technique for open hernia repair in children. Various methods of laparoscopic repair have been described. Basic principle is to close the internal inguinal ring either by intra corporeal or by extracorporeal suturing. This study was done to evaluate our experience in laparoscopic needle assisted extracorporeal repair of inguinal Hernia in Children. Methods: This retrospective study was done in a tertiary Pediatric Surgical center at Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2012 to June 2017. Medical records of the cases who underwent inguinal hernia repaired laparoscopicaly with needle assisted extracorporeal knot were reviewed. The variables to evaluate the patients included: demographics, surgical time, complications, recurrence and follow up time. The cases with incomplete data were excluded. Result: Total 202 hernias of 131 patients underwent laparoscopic assisted extra-corporeal inguinal hernia repairs. Age of the patients at operation was ranged from 1year 3 months to 7 years 8 months. Preoperative diagnosed unilateral hernias were 112 cases. Twenty six (19.9 %) patients found per-operative contra lateral patent procesus virginals. Mean operative time was 21.2 minutes for unilateral and 30.3 minutes for bilateral repair. Six patients developed mild bleeding from needle puncture site, 5 boys developed transient hydroceles and four (1.98%) cases developed recurrences hernia. Mean follow up time was 16.3 months. Conclusion: It can be conclude that Laparoscopic Needle Assisted Extracorporeal repair of Inguinal Hernia is simple, safe, and efficacious for pediatric patients. It can be performed by the surgeons who are in the initial stage of learning laparoscopic surgery.