Simple prophylactic procedure of inguinal hernia after radical retropubic prostatectomy: isolation of the spermatic cord.

To reduce the incidence of inguinal hernia (IH) after radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP), a simple prophylactic procedure was carried out during RRP. A consecutive 82 patients who had undergone RRP for clinically localized prostate cancer between July 2002 and October 2006 at Toride Kyodo General Hospital were enrolled. From July 2002 to November 2003, 20 patients underwent conventional RRP. Thereafter, 62 patients underwent conventional RRP with blunt dissection of the peritoneum at the internal inguinal ring and isolation of the spermatic cord from the peritoneum as a prophylactic procedure for IH. There was no significant difference in patient characteristics between the two groups. In the conventional RRP group, IH occurred in 10 patients during a median range follow-up period of 41 (1 to 73) months. In contrast, in the RRP plus prophylactic procedure group, IH occurred in one patient (1.6%) during a median range follow-up period of 41 (25 to 59) months. The incidence of IH after RRP plus the prophylactic procedure was significantly lower than that after conventional RRP, indicating the efficacy of the presented procedure.