Quality of Life after Desarda Technique for Inguinal Hernia Repair—A Comparative Retrospective Multicenter Study of 120 Patients

Abstract

Inguinal hernia repair, according to Desarda, is a pure tissue surgical technique using external oblique fascia to reinforce the posterior wall of the inguinal canal. This has provided an impetus for the rethinking of guideline adherence toward minimally invasive and mesh-based surgery of inguinal hernia. In this study, a retrospective analysis of this technique was conducted in two German hospitals. Between 6/2013 and 12/2020, 120 operations were performed. Analysis included patient characteristics, duration of operation, length of hospital stay, and perioperative complications. Data were used to achieve a matched-pair analysis comparing Desarda to laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) hernia repair. Propensity scores were calculated based on five preoperative variables, including sex, age, American Society of Anesthesiology classification, localization, and width of the inguinal hernia in order to achieve comparability. Additionally, we assessed pain level and quality of life (QoL) 12 months postoperatively. The focus of our study was a comparison of QoL to a reference population and TAPP cohort. The study population consisted of 106 male and 14 female patients, and the median age was 37.5 years. The median operation time was 50 min, and the median length of hospital stay was 2 days. At a follow-up of 17 months, the median recurrence rate was 0.8%, and two cases of chronic postoperative pain were recorded. Postoperative QoL does not significantly differ between Desarda and TAPP. In contrast, Desarda patients had a significantly higher QoL compared with the reference population. In summary, Desarda’s procedure is a good option as a pure tissue method for inguinal hernia repair.