A comparative study between laparoscopic hernia repair and open herniotomy of inguinal hernia in paediatric age group: A prospective randomized controlled study
Background: Inguinal hernia in children remains one of the most common congenital anomaly observed by surgeons. Prompt diagnosis and early treatment of the inguinal hernia continues to be the mainstay to avoid the complications. The present study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of laparoscopic hernia repair and open herniotomy of inguinal hernia in paediatric age group. Method: A total 104 healthy children of age <12 years diagnosed with inguinal hernias were alternately randomized into two equal groups, 52 patients were treated by laparoscopic method and 52 patients were treated by open herniotomy method. The outcome of two techniques compare were operative time, recovery and discharge within 24 hours, post-operative pain assessment, cosmesis and complications. Results: The mean operating time for open herniotomy was significantly less (36.69) as compared to that for laparoscopic hernia group (66.98). Recovery and discharge within 24 hours of patients undergoing laparoscopic hernia repair were significantly more (78.85%) than the open herniotomy group (57.69%). The CHIPPS for post-operative pain assessment were 5.28 for open herniotomy Vs 5.07 for laparoscopic hernia repair. FLACC tool for postoperative and periprocedural pain assessment was 4.75 for open hernioromy Vs 4.61 for laparoscopic hernia repair. The excellent cosmesis after laparoscopic procedure, whereas good cosmesis after open procedure among all subjects from respective groups. The complications including scrotal edema, erythema, hydrocele and recurrence were not significantly different in the two groups. Conclusion: The study concludes that the well performed conventional herniotomy yields results similar to those of laparoscopic repair.