The mesh plug technique for adult inguinal herniation

We studied 112 adult patients who underwent the mesh plug method for inguin al hernia at our clinical division from August 1996 to September 1998. We c ompared the mesh plug method with conventional sutured repair, such as the Bassini method, the ileopubic tract repair method and the McVay method, acc ording to the duration of operation, postoperative white blood cell count, postoperative CRP, the frequency of analgesics after surgery, and the recur rence rate. The duration of operation in patients with the mesh plug method was significantly short. According to postoperative white blood cell count and CRP, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Frequ ency of analgesics after surgery was 0.8 times in a patient with convention al sutured repair and 0.4 times in a patient with the mesh plug method, sug gesting that it was significantly low in patients with the mesh plug method . The recurrence rate in patients with the mesh plug method was 3.57% (4 ca ses). All the recurrences had developed within 1 year after surgery, and al l of the cases were repaired with the mesh plug method. We conclude that the mesh plug method for adult inguinal hernia was a usefu l operative procedure with shorter duration of operation, less postoperativ e wound pain, and almost the same recurrence rate compared with conventiona l sutured repair.