Ultrasonographic characteristics of different methods of inguinal hernia repair.

A randomized blind sonography estimation analysis of seven different methods of inguinal hernia repair was performed using a commercially available linear scanner with a 5-MHz transducer frequency. A total of 58 male patients with a mean age of 56 years who had been free of recurrence since undergoing a hernia repair were examined 3-12 years after surgery. The analysis was accomplished by three static and four dynamic indices. A five-grade scale was used to assess the operated side while control pattern images of the unoperated operated side, and of a control group of five men who had not undergone surgery, were assessed with four points. The score from the static ultrasound assessment ranked the methods of Lotheissen-McVay and Shouldice first and the methods of Marcy and Postempsky-Halsted I second, while the score from dynamic indices ranked iliopublic tract repair and the methods of Marcy and Shouldice first and the method of Lotheissen-McVay and bilateral preperitoneal prosthetic repair second. The highest aggregate score was demonstrated by the Shouldice method and the lowest by Bassini's method. The results of this study provide additional information which may be clinically useful in the context of the current state of inguinal hernia surgery.