Incidence of Inguinal Hernia after Radical Prostatectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

We found a high incidence of inguinal hernia following radical prostatectomy and hernias were primarily of the indirect type. The highest incidence of inguinal hernia was noted after open radical prostatectomy, followed by laparoscopic and robot-assisted radical prostatectomies. There was no significant difference between the laparoscopic and robot-assisted groups. The incidence of inguinal hernia was significantly higher after open radical prostatectomy than in control groups with some evidence to support the same finding for the laparoscopic and robot-assisted approaches. Promising results have been reported in studies of intraoperative prophylactic surgical techniques to reduce the postoperative incidence of inguinal hernia.