The status of laparoscopic inguinal hernia surgery in children: a nationwide assessment

  • 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.

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Author:Andrea SchmeddingORCiDGND, Ahmad Alsweed, Oliver MuenstererORCiD, Johannes LeonhardtGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-692967
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/children9030348
ISSN:2227-9067
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35327720
Parent Title (English):Children
Publisher:MDPI
Place of publication:Basel
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/03/03
Date of first Publication:2022/03/03
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/05/07
Tag:child; inguinal hernia; laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair; minimal invasive; pediatric surgery
Volume:9
Issue:3, art. 348
Article Number:348
Page Number:10
First Page:1
Last Page:10
Note:
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.
HeBIS-PPN:519154398
Institutes:Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International