[Laparoscopic hernia repair].

From January 1992 to February 1993 a total of 361 inguinal hernia repairs were performed in our unit. We routinely performed the Shouldice repair. In 60 patients, 46 men and 14 women, 19-82 year old, we closed the inguinal defect with a patch, performing a "tension-free" repair by a laparoscopic technique. In 26 patients we found a left-sided hernia, in 21 patients a right-sided, and in 13 bilateral hernias. We found 29 direct hernias, 26 indirect hernias and 18 combined hernias. There were no intraoperative complications. Postoperatively, 1 patient suffered from epididymitis, and 5 patients reported disturbed sensibility of the skin at the medial proximal thigh for some weeks. One patient had an inguinal seroma postoperatively. In this patient we had not removed the hernia sac. There was no recurrence. Long time results are not available until now.