AUTORES: Alfredo Noches García.
INSTITUCION: Sir Charles Cairdner Hospital, St. John Of God Hospital, Subiaco, Bethesda Hospital.

Antecedentes: Laparoscopic hernia repairs was first described in the early 1990s and more often used after laparoscopic cholecystectomy but seems like is not more commonly performed.

Objetivo: Is laparoscopic hernia repair to be abandoned?

Lugar de aplicación: Data information was collected from tree different centres in Western Australia from the 20th of April 2005 to 22nd of March 2006.

Diseño: A retrospective study of patients who underwent a laparoscopic hernia repair in 3 care centres.

Población: 56 patients (45 male and 11 female) between 20 and 80 years of age.

Método: Patients were asked to answer a questionnaire to assess results of the procedure.

Resultados: Fifty six patients underwent laparoscopic hernia repair. 77% of patients had a satisfactory result with a average hospital stay of 1.3 nights and 5.6 days off work. It took 2.8 weeks to return to full physical activity and only 9.6% had urinary retention and wound infection was present in 5.8%. Recurrence was present in 5.8% and long term pain and numbness in 5.8%.

Conclusiones: Laparoscopic hernia repair would not be abandoned as it appears to result in less postoperative pain, shorter convalescence and early return to work compared with open repair. It is safe with a low recurrence rate when performed by surgeons with special interest and proficiency in the technique.