Purpose: To examine the use of totally extraperitoneal endoscopic hernioplasty (TEP) and its postoperative complications in order to obtain better and more stable treatment results.
Methods: We studied 73 patients (83 cases) for whom TEP was performed at our hospital between June 1995 and February 2003. The types of hernias included unilateral hernia (63), 10 bilateral hernias, 47 indirect inguinal hernias, 29 direct inguinal hernias, and 7 other types.
Results: The average body mass index was 22.3 kg/m2. The average duration of operation was 87.1 +/- 31.1 min for unilateral hernias and 106.5 +/- 38.4 min for bilateral hernias. The length of hospitalization was 9.46 days on average, and the postoperative stay was approximately 6.21 days. 80.8% of all cases were administered analgesics for 1.3 days on average. Postoperative complications were observed in 12 cases: peritoneum injury (3), postoperative subcutaneous suggillation (2), ischemic orchitis (1), and other symptoms which required a switch to other operational techniques (7).
Conclusion: The study revealed that patients with previous abdominal surgery and patients 70 years of age or older tended to show significantly more postoperative complications and thus, for these patients, the use of TEP should be determined only after careful consideration.