[Pain, analgesic consumption and daily life activities recovery in patients undergoing ambulatory totally extra-peritoneal laparoscopic inguinal hernioplasty versus ambulatory Lichtenstein hernioplasty]

Introduction: Although the unique comparison standard of primary inguinal hernia repair is the Lichtenstein technique (LICH), totally extra-peritoneal (TEP) laparoscopic inguinal hernioplasty shows, although not systematically demonstrated, clear advantages as regards, perceived pain, analgesic use, and recovery of daily life activities.

Objective: To demonstrate the differences in perceived pain, analgesic use, and recovery of daily life activities between Lichtenstein hernioplasty and TEP laparoscopy.

Material and methods: A prospective, non-randomised observational study was conducted on 169 consecutive patients subjected to LICH vs TEP. The LICH was performed using local anaesthesia and sedation, and the TEP with general anaesthesia, both being performed as ambulatory surgery. The points of analysis included: analgesic use, level of perceived pain, and recovery of daily life activities.

Results: Analgesic use was less in the TEP group for post-operative day 4 and 5, similar to the perceived pain. As regards recovery of daily life activities, the significantly minimum differences were achieved on post-operative day 7 in favour of TEP.

Conclusions: Our study shows a significant difference as regards perceived pain and analgesic use, as well as in the level of recovery of daily life activities, when comparing both groups. TEP hernioplasty should also be considered in the non-complicated primary unilateral inguinal hernia.