Purpose: The aim of this study was to provide clinical evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic surgical glue injection hernioplasty (LSGIH) for indirect inguinal hernia repair in female patients.
Methods: We conducted a prospective study of LSGIH beginning in January 2013. N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate was used as the surgical glue for closure of the hernia sac. Twenty-eight female patients with a mean age of 51.1 ± 35.3 months (24 days to 10 years) received LSGIH. The total number of LSGIH operations was 42, including bilateral inguinal hernioplasties.
Results: Postoperatively, all the patients were discharged from the hospital within 24 hours without incident. The mean operation time for LSGIH was 41.0 ± 9.7 minutes (30-66 minutes). The mean follow-up period was 23.2 ± 8.3 months (14.6-38.2 months) up to now. There were no postoperative complications or recurrences during the follow-up period.
Conclusions: Our prospective study supports LSGIH as a simple, safe, and useful technique for pediatric inguinal hernioplasty. This method required only one working port and one camera port. However, further clinical prospective trials, including male patients, should be performed to confirm the long-term safety and effectiveness of LSGIH.