Inguinal hernia repair: a global perspective

Background: Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common operations performed worldwide with most of the burden of these occurring in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs). There has been much research investigating the most effective method of hernia repair in resource-rich countries, however very little has been done to determine the most cost-beneficial method of hernia repair in LMICs.

Methods: A systematic review of the English literature through PubMed and Scopus was conducted according to the PRISMA statement.

Results: Twenty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria of which 17 were randomised controlled trials and 11 were systematic reviews. Three areas of investigation were established from the literature search, namely operative method and type of mesh used (where applicable). Open-mesh procedures were shown to be less costly and have shorter operative times than laparoscopic methods. People who underwent laparoscopic hernia repair regularly returned to normal activities earlier than those who had open-mesh procedures. However, there was no other difference in complication rates between these two methods. Recent investigations have revealed that sterilised synthetic mosquito net was similar to hernia-specific meshes whilst significantly reducing cost.

Conclusion: We postulate that the most cost-beneficial method of hernia repair for implementation in LMICs is using open-mesh procedures with sterilised mosquito net under local anaesthetic. Further cost-benefit research is required in this area.