LAPAROSCOPIC TRANSABDOMINAL PREPERITONEAL HERNIOPLASTY - RESULTS OF 1000 CONSECUTIVE CASES

From October 1992 until September 1995, 859 patients with 1000 inguina l hernias underwent a transabdominal preperitoneal mesh repair (TAPP) in the First Department of Surgery of the Diakonie-Hospital Rotenburg/ Wumme, Germany. One hundred and seventeen of these repairs were for re currences after previous open hernia surgery. There were 76 (7.6%) per i- and postoperative complications, but most of them were minor withou t necessity for surgical intervention. There were no implant infection s or any adverse reaction of the mesh. During the postoperative follow -up period, which ranged from 2-36 months, 11 early recurrences were o bserved after TAPP, but none were in the recurrent hernia group. Our r esults support other studies and randomized trials reported in the lit erature and demonstrate that TAPP is an effective and safe operative p rocedure especially for the repair of recurrent groin hernias.