166 A Retrospective Observational Study on Laparoscopic and Open Hernia Repairs at a Single Centre

Abstract Aim To compare Laparoscopic and open hernia repairs in terms of patient management and post operative complications was collected and compared against the existing standards regarding management of hernias. Method A retrospective observational study of all emergency and elective, laparoscopic and open inguinal hernia repairs that were performed during the years 2020-2021 was conducted. Demographic and outcome data were collected from electronic patient records including patient demographics, laterality, type of repair, conversion rate, peri- and postoperative complications, rates of recurrence, chronic groin pain and mortality. These were then analyzed using MS Excel and SPSS. Results 108 patients were studied in total. In the post operative period, there was zero mortality in both groups, and only one patient developed recurrence as a complication. None of the other patients had any major complications. 1 patient complained of paraesthesia in the groin, 5 had scrotal edema, 5 developed seromas. Other minor complications were inguinodynia, post operative pain, bruising and haematoma in 1 percent of patients. The single incidence of recurrence occurred in a case where open repair was done and a greater proportion of minor complications were observed in people who underwent laparoscopic repair (19% of all laparoscopic repairs), while it was lower in patients who underwent open repair (14.7% of all open repairs). These differences were of no statistical significance as Chi-square test. Conclusions The data obtained reveal that there is no significant difference between the outcomes of laparoscopic and open hernia repairs at a single Centre.