Congenital inguinal hernia repair with and without opening the inguinal canal

Abstract Background Elective repair of congenital inguinal hernia is the most common surgery performed by pediatric surgeons and is considered the treatment of choice. The exact technique and steps involved in the repair differs widely among pediatric surgeons, many surgeons open the roof of inguinal canal while preserving the external ring or opening it, this is called the modified Ferguson, s technique. In infants, the inguinal canal is short and virtually the internal and external rings lie over each other so many surgeons also like to perform the whole operation without opening the external oblique aponeurosis distal to the external ring, this technique is called the Mitchell Banks technique. Objective To compare both techniques regarding intraoperative time, incidence of intraoperative and postoperative complications to pass our experience in a trial to reach an ideal surgical technique for congenital inguinal hernia repair. Patients and Methods In this study, 60 cases of congenital inguinal hernia were randomly selected and divided into two equal groups where group A underwent the repair with opening the external oblique aponeurosis and group B underwent the repair without opening the external oblique aponeurosis. Results As regard the postoperative complications, the patients who underwent the Ferguson’s technique experienced more postoperative pain with statistically significant more incidence of postoperative hydrocele than the Mitchell banks technique, no complications occurred postoperatively other than hydrocele in our study. Conclusion Our study results, we can approve that Mitchell Banks technique is easier, consumes less time than Ferguson’s technique with less incidence of postoperative complications and pain which can make this technique better for congenital inguinal hernia repair in children aging 2 years or less.