[More recurrencies than expected following inguinal hernia surgery].

Objective: To make an inventory of inguinal hernia repairs performed in one year, and to analyse the number of and origin of recurrent hernias.
Design: Retrospective.
Setting: Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Method: Analysis of all hernia operations performed in Amsterdam and Amstelveen in 1994 in male patients over 18 years of age. Request of national data, computer data from the hospitals, hand count of all operation reports and investigation of patient files.
Results: In 1994, 1108 patients were operated for inguinal hernia on one or two sides. In 216/1108 (19.5%) cases recurrent hernia was involved. According to national statistics this occurred in 175/1123 (15.6%). In the two University hospitals 25.7% of all repairs were for a recurrent hernia, in the two hospitals with a surgical training programme this proportion was 17.9% and in the five hospitals without a training programme it was 18.6%. Of the early recurrences (within two years) 82.5% (47/57) were reoperated in the same hospital as before but of the late recurrences (more than 10 years) this proportion was only 26.8%. Only 16.6% (36/216) of the patients with a recurrence were reoperated by the same surgeon who had performed the prior operation. Most popular method for repair was a Bassini (59%). In the training hospitals more early recurrences were repaired than in the non-training hospitals.
Conclusion: The percentage of hernia repairs for recurrent hernia is higher than national statistics suggest and higher than expected. Surgeons have little insight into their performance as many recurrences are repaired by another surgeon and many recurrences occur after ten years. Better training and more use of modern techniques may improve results.