The operation duration and short-term complications of laparoscopic transabdominal prepritoneal hernia repair: Trendelenburg versus reverse-Trendelenburg positions

The aim of this study was to compare operating time and short-term complications of laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair during reperitonealization in Trendelenburg versus reverse-Trendelenburg positions.

Thirty-nine patients with inguinal hernia were enrolled in this clinical trial. Study was done in Milad and Rasoul Akram hospitals in Tehran, Iran, during 2008-2010. The patients neither were pregnant nor did they have any signs of peritonitis, strangulation, perforation or infection. Moreover, they had a Body Mass Index (BMI) below 35 kg/m2 and were physically fit for general anesthesia. The participants were divided into two groups by block randomization. The first (20) and the second (19) groups of patients underwent laparoscopic herniorrhaphy in Trendelenburg and reverse-Trendelenburg positions. Respectively all the operations were performed by one surgeon. The patients were visited one day and one week after the surgery.

Most frequent complications were rupture in peritoneal repair in 9 patients (23%), skin site bleeding in one patient (2.6%), and peritoneal tension in 33 patients (84.6%) patients. Duration of surgery and peritoneal repair took a significantly longer time in Trendelenburg versus the reverse-Trendelenburg position. There were no differences in duration for returning to work or resumption of daily activities between the two groups. Pain in the first day following surgery was statistically more severe in the Trendelenburg group.

This study demonstrated that reverse-Trendelenburg position took less time for herniorrhaphy and peritoneal repair than Trendelenburg position, although the complications were the same.