[Treatment of inguinal hernia by Shouldice type herniorrhaphy. Analysis of a series of 403 cases surgically treated].

The authors report a statistical analysis of 403 patients operated on between 1981 and 1987 for inguinal hernias using the Shouldice kelorraphy procedure. The majority of patients were men and 62% of them were under 50 years. The early operative results were assessed in all patients; recurrences were assessed at one and six years in patients who were either reviewed or who had replied to a questionnaire. Post-operative mortality was 0.5% and the recurrence rate was 1.6%. In 94.2% of patients the course was uncomplicated. A morbidity study demonstrated parietal hematoma formation in 2.5% and sepsis in 1.7%. These results are compared with those in the literature. A comparison was also made with an already published study of 399 keloplasties with reinforcement of the peritoneal sac using the technique proposed by R. Stoppa. It would appear in fact that the two groups of patients were completely different and that the two forms of treatment were not in opposition but rather were complementary.