Inguinal hernia repair before and after prostatic resection.

From 1976 through 1981, 864 men had inguinal hernia repairs and 328 had prostatic resections at our Veterans Administration Hospital. Forty-four patients had symptomatic prostatic obstruction that required either transurethral or open prostatic resection within 12 months of hernia repair. Twenty-seven patients had prostatectomy prior to hernia repair, 16 had hernia repair before prostatic resection, and one had simultaneous procedures. There were no urinary tract infections (UTIs) after hernia repair in patients who had had prostatectomy first, while five patients who had hernia repair before prostatectomy developed UTI after hernia repair (P less than 0.01). The incidence of UTI after hernia repair correlated with the need for and duration of bladder catheterization as a result of prostatic obstruction. Complications after prostatectomy were similar regardless of the order of operation. There were no episodes of incarceration or strangulation in patients awaiting hernia repair after prostatectomy. These results suggest that, when an inguinal hernia and symptomatic prostatic obstruction occur together, the performance of prostectomy before hernia repair lowers the risk of morbidity by decreasing the incidence of UTI after hernia repair. This approach does not expose the patient to any additional risk related to the inguinal hernia.