Laparoscopic treatment of paraesophageal and mixed diaphragmatic hernias. Report of two cases.

Hiatal hernias are classified into 3 types: sliding hernia (type I), paraesophageal hernia (type II) and mixed hernia (type III), that is a combination of type I and II. The paraesophageal and mixed hernias represent about 5-10% of the surgically treated hiatal hernias. The surgical treatment of the paraesophageal and mixed hernias is unavoidable because of the high risk of severe complications and it has to be considered in a high percentage of cases. The most important technical difficulty in the video-laparoscopic treatment is represented by the hugeness of the hernial defect and by the challenging reduction of the stomach into the abdomen. A cautious dissection of hernial sac and diaphragmatic cruses as well as a careful crural repair make the video-laparoscopic procedure feasible. The operative times are not prolonged and the results are similar to the open technique ones. In literature, the incidence of both intra and postoperative complications doesn't exhibit statistically significant differences between laparoscopic and open techniques. Because of the complexity of the laparoscopic procedure, the minimally invasive access has to be reserved to surgeons who are well trained in those techniques. In this paper we describe 2 cases: one of paraesophageal hernia and the other of mixed hernia which were video-laparoscopically treated with the help, in the second case, of a Gore-Tex mesh. In both cases the technical results were positive. Intra and postoperative complications didn't occur and, one year after the surgical procedure, both patients were in good health and recurrence-free.