Video-assisted isolated percutaneous hernia sac suturing in children with inguinal hernia (VIPS)

Abstract

Background. Inguinal hernias in children are a common problem. They occur in 520 cases of 1000 newborns, with the prevalence in males of about 10 times. Therefore, they present a very important problem in pediatric surgery.
 Materials and methods. This prospective study was performed from 2019 to 2020 and included 30 patients with diagnosed inguinal hernias. Video-assisted percutaneous hernia sac ligation was performed in all patients.
 Results. The mean operating time was 10.3 2.7 min in patients with unilateral inguinal hernias and 14.7 1.6 min in patients with the bilateral variant. No complications or recurrences were observed during the six-month follow-up period. In one case, an additional 3 mm port setting was performed in an eight-month-old child. The main reason for doing this was the fibrous transformation of the parietal peritoneum because of the existence of incarcerations in the anamnesis.
 Conclusion. This technique garners all the advantages of a minimally invasive surgical treatment of inguinal hernias using the Tuohy needle. However, the conductor application allows us to create the same approach using a Touhy needle. This means that we can perform an isolated hernia sac ligation without getting under the preperitoneal tissue ligature, parts of the internal oblique and transverse muscles, aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle, and subcutaneous fat. This presented video-assisted percutaneous hernia sac ligation method seems like a potential minimally invasive way to treat inguinal hernias in children.