[Reduced hospitalization stay after surgery for inguinal hernia].

Operations of inguinal hernias hold among all surgical operations, as regards frequency, the second place after appendectomy. They deserve thus not only practical but also theoretical attention. In the course of two years in 110 investigated operated patients the mean hospitalization period was 6.5 days, the mean period of work incapacity 4.6 weeks. Relapses were recorded in two patients and postoperative complications in 14 patients. In the group of patients with a hospitalization period shorter than 7 days (45.5% of the whole group) postoperative complications developed in four patients, the mean period of work incapacity being 4.08 weeks. The mean hospitalization period was reduced by one day, from 7.5 days to 6.5 days. This reduction did not increase the incidence of complications and did not prolong the period of work incapacity.