Laparoscopic approach for the surgical treatment of inguinal hernia in little infants

Abstract

Objective To explore the feasibility of laparoscopic ligation of the internal ring of the inguinal canal in little infants. Methods Clinical data were analyzed retrospectively about 86 hospitalized indirect inguinal hernia infants aged 0~3 months in the Neonatal Surgery Department of Hunan Children's Hospital between January 2013 and December 2015. The number of infants with indirect inguinal hernia was 86 with 60 boys (69.8%) and 26 girls (30.2%). Eighteen cases were bilateral inguinal hernias. Sixty eight cases were unilateral inguinal hernias, among whom 20 cases were left inguinal hernias, and 48 cases were right inguinal hernias. All patients had undergone three-port laparoscopic ligation of the internal ring of the inguinal canal. Results Eighty six hospitalized infants had undergone laparoscopic ligation of the internal ring of the inguinal canal smoothly. The operation time ranged from 18 to 26 min [mean (21.5±2.3)min] for unilateral inguinal hernias, and 27 to 45 min [mean (33.8±4.5)min] for bilateral inguinal hernias. Sixty eight cases were diagnosed as unilateral inguinal hernias before operation. Of the unilateral inguinal hernias, 18 cases were occult hernias(26.5%). One case was suffered from spermatic vessels bleeding in the operation. The bleeding was stopped after the compression. The mean postoperative hospital stay was (1.6±0.6) days. Follow-up was achieved from 2 to 24 months in this series, and 1 case had recurrent hernia with a recurrent rate of 1.16%. Conclusions Laparoscopic ligation of the internal ring of the inguinal canal in little infants is an effective method with many advantages such as safety and reliability, good effect, minimal invasion, quick recovery, small scar, fewer complications, and the easy discovery of the contralateral hernia, so it is worthy of clinical promotion. Key words: Laparoscopy; Hernia, inguinal