Background: Laparoscopic hernia repair is especially advantageous for bilateral or recurrent diseases in children because it avoids vas injury. However, it is more technically demanding, and the recurrent rate has been higher than with the open method. The authors developed a method of laparoscopic hernia repair that is easy and secure.
Methods: The hernia opening was repaired with a peritoneal flip-flap anchored with a single tension-free intracorporeal suture. The vas and testicular vessel were completely untouched. The valve mechanism of the flip-flap helped to avoid scrotal collection and prevent hernia recurrence.
Results: In 32 patients ages 1 month to 17 years 43 repairs were performed. The early result was promising, and no recurrence was noticed in a median follow-up period of 4 months.
Conclusions: Laparoscopic flip-flap hernioplasty is easy to perform and has a number of theoretical advantages, although the long-term result still needs to be evaluated.