Laparoscopic repair of recurrent hernias.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a laparoscopic approach to recurrent inguinal hernia repair which dissected the entire inguinal floor and repaired all potential areas of recurrence without producing tension. Both a transabdominal preperitoneal and a totally extraperitoneal laparoscopic approach were utilized. Ninety recurrent hernias were repaired in 81 patients. The patients had 26 indirect, 36 direct, and 26 pantaloon recurrent hernias of which eight had a femoral component. In all but one patient the primary operations were open anterior repairs. The median follow-up was 14 months, ranging from 1 to 28 months. Patients returned to normal activities in an average of 1 week. The only recurrence observed was in the one patient whose primary repair was laparoscopic. When the entire inguinal floor of the recurrent hernia was redissected and buttressed with mesh, early recurrence was eliminated and recovery was shortened.