Laparoscopic repair of inguinal hernia in infants: Comparison with open hernia repair

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of laparoscopic repair of inguinal hernia (LR) in infants in comparison with open hernia repair (OR). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 465 infants treated for inguinal hernia from January 2006 to December 2015. Among them, 124 underwent LR and 341 underwent OR. RESULTS: In the OR group, 16.1% (55/341) primarily underwent bilateral inguinal hernia repair and 13.6% (42/308) subsequently developed metachronous contralateral inguinal hernia during follow-up. In the LR group, 75.8% (94/124) underwent primary bilateral inguinal hernia repair and only 1.6% (2/123) developed metachronous contralateral inguinal hernia. The mean operation times of unilateral inguinal hernia repair showed no statistical differences between LR and OR. However, the mean operation times of bilateral inguinal hernia repair were shorter in LR (39.8±10.4 vs. 51.1±14.4min, p