Acceptable nationwide outcome after paediatric inguinal hernia repair.

purposeThe primary objective was to describe 30-day outcomes after primary inguinal paediatric hernia repair.

methodsProspectively collected data from the National Patient Registry covering a 2-year study period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2006 were collected. Unexpected outcomes were defined as either/or hospital stay for >1 day (i.e. 2 nights at hospital or more), readmission within 30 days, reoperations within 12 months after repair including repair for recurrence, and death within 30 days after repair.

resultsThe study cohort comprised 2,476 patients, and unexpected outcome was found in 267 patients/repairs (10.8 %). Prolonged hospital stay was by far the most prevalent indicator of unexpected outcome. Prolonged hospital stay was in 8.2 %, readmission in 2.1 %, reoperation in 0.7 %, and complications were observed in 1.1 %. One patient died within 30 days after repair, but death was not associated with the inguinal hernia repair. The usual technique was a simple sutured plasty (96.5 %). Emergency repair was performed in 54 patients (2.2 %) mainly in children between 0 and 2 years (79.6 %). During the 1 year follow-up, reoperation for recurrent inguinal hernia was performed in 8 children after elective repair (recurrence rate 0.3 %). Paediatric repairs were for most parts performed in surgical public hospitals, and most departments performed less than 10 inguinal hernia repairs within the 2 years study period.

conclusionThese nationwide results are acceptable with low numbers of patients staying more than one night at hospital, low morbidity, and no procedure-related mortality.