TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schmedding, Andrea
A1  - Alsweed, Ahmad
A1  - Muensterer, Oliver
A1  - Leonhardt, Johannes
T1  - The status of laparoscopic inguinal hernia surgery in children: a nationwide assessment
T2  - Children
N2  - Inguinal hernia repair (IHR) is a common procedure in childhood. Laparoscopic IHR has been evolving for the last three decades. Although clear advantages have been shown, adaptation in Germany has been slow. We aim to study the current status of pediatric laparoscopic IHR. A survey was sent to all 89 pediatric surgical departments in Germany on current practices and preferences of open versus laparoscopic IHR. Two nationwide databases of administrative claims data from 2019 were analyzed and correlated with responses from the survey. A total of 56% of the pediatric surgical departments supplied data through the quality reports. The recall of our survey was 58% of all pediatric surgery departments. According to the pooled data, laparoscopic IHR was performed in 8.2% of all inpatients treated. Laparoscopic IHR was considered a training procedure in 48% of the departments. Five different laparoscopic techniques were described (most commonly percutaneous closure of the hernia under laparoscopic vision). The choice between open and laparoscopic IHR was mainly determined by the child’s age. Currently, only a minority of German children undergo inguinal hernia repair by laparoscopy. More training opportunities in the form of hands-on and video workshops may lead to more widespread employment of the laparoscopic technique.
KW  - inguinal hernia
KW  - child
KW  - laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair
KW  - pediatric surgery
KW  - minimal invasive
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/69296
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-692967
SN  - 2227-9067
N1  - Data Availability Statement
Data of the used quality reports of the hospitals of Germany can be found at https://www.g-ba-qualitaetsberichte.de/#/search, accessed 31 January 2022, data of the Remuneration System in Hospitals (InEK) can be retrieved at https://www.g-drg.de/, accessed 31 January 2022. All data of the survey are published in the article.
VL  - 9
IS  - 3, art. 348
SP  - 1
EP  - 10
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -