Kristoffer Andresen

Recurrence patterns of direct and indirect inguinal hernias in a nationwide population in Denmark

BACKGROUND Detailed knowledge on risk of reoperation after direct and indirect inguinal hernia (IIH) repair could be useful in preoperative counseling as well as in the planning of postoperative follow-up. This knowledge is not available in the literature. METHODS Using data from the Danish Hernia Database, we included all male patients operated on for an elective, primary inguinal hernia from 1998 to 2012. Within this prospectively collected cohort, the type of inguinal hernia at primary and recurrent procedures was registered. Furthermore, time from primary procedure to reoperation and number of reoperations was registered. Data were compared using multivariate Cox proportionate hazard analysis and by first-order, semipartial correlation. RESULTS Among the 85,314 male patients who had a primary inguinal hernia repaired electively in the study period (56% IIH; 44% direct inguinal hernia [DIH]), we found an overall reoperation rate of 3.8%. More primary IIHs were operated by Lichtensteins technique than primary DIH (90.7% vs 85.4%, respectively; P < .001). A total of 93% of the reoperations were for inguinal hernias, and 3.9% were for femoral hernias. DIHs resulted more often in reoperation than IIHs (5.2% vs 2.7%, respectively; P < .001). We found an association between the type of hernia at the primary procedure and the recurrent procedure. Thus, direct primary hernias were correlated with recurrent direct hernias, and indirect primary hernias were correlated with recurrent indirect hernias (P < .001). CONCLUSION DIHs resulted in greater risk of reoperation than IIHs. A clear association was found between the same subtype of primary and recurrent type of inguinal hernia and could be an indication of different pathophysiologic etiologies.

Reoperation Rates for Laparoscopic vs Open Repair of Femoral Hernias in Denmark: A Nationwide Analysis

IMPORTANCE In Denmark approximately 10 000 groin hernias are repaired annually, of which 2% to 4% are femoral hernias. Several methods for repair of femoral hernias are used including sutured repair and different types of mesh repair with either open or laparoscopic techniques. The use of many different approaches reflects a rather low level of evidence for the best method of repair. Randomized clinical trials are lacking. Large, prospective cohort studies are an alternative way of acquiring improved evidence regarding the best type of repair. OBJECTIVE To investigate the reoperation rate after laparoscopic vs open femoral hernia repair, analyzing data from a nationwide database. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A prospective cohort study was conducted. Data on femoral hernia repairs registered in the Danish Hernia Database from January 1998 until February 2012 were extracted and analyzed. All repairs were followed in the database and analyzed for reports of reoperation, which were used as a proxy for recurrence. Femoral hernia recurrence and inguinal hernia occurrence after the index repair were analyzed. EXPOSURE Repair of a femoral hernia. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Reoperation for a femoral hernia. RESULTS A total of 3970 primary femoral hernia repairs were analyzed; 27.3% occurred in men. There were 2413 elective repairs (60.8%) and 1557 emergency procedures (39.2%). In a multivariate analysis, laparoscopic repair was found to result in reduced risk of reoperation (hazard ratio, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.09-0.95) compared with open repair. The risk of reoperation was higher in women (hazard ratio, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.10-3.45). Furthermore, the laparoscopic approach seemed to reduce the risk of subsequent occurrence of an inguinal hernia in the same groin. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Laparoscopic repair of a femoral hernia reduces the risk of reoperation for a recurrence compared with open repair. The results from this study support the guidelines recommending the use of the laparoscopic approach for repair of femoral hernias.

The initial experience of introducing the Onstep technique for inguinal hernia repair in a general surgical department

Background and Aims: A new technique for the repair of inguinal hernia, called Onstep, has been described. This technique places the mesh in the preperitoneal space medially and between the internal and external oblique muscles laterally. The Onstep technique has not yet been described outside the inventors’ departments. This study was based on the first 80 patients operated by the Onstep technique in a general surgical department. The objective of the study was to investigate postoperative pain and complications following the Onstep repair of inguinal hernia. Material and Methods: A total of 80 patients, operated in our department, were followed up in the medical files and contacted by letter. Patients were asked to fill out the Inguinal Pain Questionnaire, Carolinas Comfort Scale, and the Activity Assessment Scale, in order to assess postoperative pain. Results: No perioperative complications occurred. The response rate was 85% on the mailed questionnaires. No patients had any activities they were not able to perform. Activity Assessment Scale results: 80.3% did not have substantial pain-related impairment of daily function. Carolinas Comfort Scale results: 94.8% did not have a symptomatic repair. Inguinal Pain Questionnaire results: 95.5% reported no pain or pain that was easily ignored. Conclusions: It seems from this study that the Onstep technique is a safe method for inguinal hernia repair regarding perioperative and postoperative complications. The postoperative pain seems to be equal to or lower than after the Lichtenstein technique.

Laparoscopic Repair of Primary Inguinal Hernia Performed in Public Hospitals or Low-Volume Centers Have Increased Risk of Reoperation for Recurrence:

Background. Inguinal hernia repair is traditionally carried out as either open or laparoscopic repair. Laparoscopic repair has been shown to be superior in terms of pain and discomfort, but has a higher risk of reoperation. Quality of inguinal hernia repair is related to factors such as method of repair, characteristics of patients, and possibly the annual volume of procedures performed by a center. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that hospital volume and type of hospital (private vs public) could influence the reoperation rate for recurrence as a marker of surgical quality of care. Methods. This study was based on data from the Danish Hernia Database covering the period from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2013. Hernia repairs included in this study were laparoscopic repair of primary, inguinal hernias in the elective setting, performed on adult male patients. Results. A total of 14 532 laparoscopic repairs were included for analysis. Centers reporting less than 50 procedures a year had a significantly higher cumulative reoperation rate compared with centers reporting more than 50 procedures a year (9.97% vs 6.06%), P < .0001. Private centers had a lower cumulative reoperation rate compared with public centers: 5.36% versus 8.53%, P ≤ .0001. Type of center and center volume were both independent risk factors for reoperation in a Cox regression model. Conclusion. Hospital volume had an effect on the reoperation rate for recurrence after laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. Furthermore, private centers performed better than public centers irrespective of volume.

For 481 biomedical open access journals, articles are not searchable in the Directory of Open Access Journals nor in conventional biomedical databases

Background. Open access (OA) journals allows access to research papers free of charge to the reader. Traditionally, biomedical researchers use databases like MEDLINE and EMBASE to discover new advances. However, biomedical OA journals might not fulfill such databases’ criteria, hindering dissemination. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a database exclusively listing OA journals. The aim of this study was to investigate DOAJ’s coverage of biomedical OA journals compared with the conventional biomedical databases. Methods. Information on all journals listed in four conventional biomedical databases (MEDLINE, PubMed Central, EMBASE and SCOPUS) and DOAJ were gathered. Journals were included if they were (1) actively publishing, (2) full OA, (3) prospectively indexed in one or more database, and (4) of biomedical subject. Impact factor and journal language were also collected. DOAJ was compared with conventional databases regarding the proportion of journals covered, along with their impact factor and publishing language. The proportion of journals with articles indexed by DOAJ was determined. Results. In total, 3,236 biomedical OA journals were included in the study. Of the included journals, 86.7% were listed in DOAJ. Combined, the conventional biomedical databases listed 75.0% of the journals; 18.7% in MEDLINE; 36.5% in PubMed Central; 51.5% in SCOPUS and 50.6% in EMBASE. Of the journals in DOAJ, 88.7% published in English and 20.6% had received impact factor for 2012 compared with 93.5% and 26.0%, respectively, for journals in the conventional biomedical databases. A subset of 51.1% and 48.5% of the journals in DOAJ had articles indexed from 2012 and 2013, respectively. Of journals exclusively listed in DOAJ, one journal had received an impact factor for 2012, and 59.6% of the journals had no content from 2013 indexed in DOAJ. Conclusions. DOAJ is the most complete registry of biomedical OA journals compared with five conventional biomedical databases. However, DOAJ only indexes articles for half of the biomedical journals listed, making it an incomplete source for biomedical research papers in general.

Chronic pain after mesh versus nonmesh repair of inguinal hernias: A systematic review and a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Chronic pain affects 10%–12% of patients after inguinal hernia repairs. Some have suggested that less foreign material may theoretically prevent pain. If the prevalence of chronic pain is less after nonmesh repairs, selected hernias might be repaired without mesh. Our aim was to clarify if nonmesh repairs are superior to mesh repairs regarding chronic pain. Methods: For this systematic review, searches were conducted in five databases. The main outcome was chronic pain reported a minimum of six months after mesh and nonmesh repair in adult patients with a primary inguinal hernia. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Results: A total of 23 RCTs with 5,444 patients were included. The median follow up was 1.4 years (range 0.5–10). Twenty‐one studies reported crude chronic pain rates, and when considering moderate and severe pain, the prevalences of pain after nonmesh repairs and mesh repairs were similar: median 3.5% (0%–16.2%) versus median 2.9% (0%–27.6%), respectively. Both the meta‐analyses and the network meta‐analysis indicated no difference in chronic pain rates when comparing nonmesh repairs with open‐ and laparoscopic mesh repairs. Conclusion: Mesh may be used without fear of causing a greater rate of chronic pain.

Absorbable Meshes in Inguinal Hernia Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose. Absorbable meshes used in inguinal hernia repair are believed to result in less chronic pain than permanent meshes, but concerns remain whether absorbable meshes result in an increased risk of recurrence. The aim of this study was to present an overview of the advantages and limitations of fully absorbable meshes for the repair of inguinal hernias, focusing mainly on postoperative pain and recurrence. Methods. This systematic review with meta-analyses is based on searches in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Psychinfo. Included study designs were case series, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and non-RCTs. Studies had to include adult patients undergoing an inguinal hernia repair with a fully absorbable mesh. Results. The meta-analyses showed no difference in recurrence rates (median 18 months follow-up) and chronic pain rates (1 year follow-up) between absorbable- and permanent meshes. Crude chronic pain rates for the RCTs were 2.1% for the absorbable meshes and 7.6% for the permanent meshes. For the absorbable meshes, medial hernias were more susceptible for recurrence compared with lateral hernias (P < .0005). None of the studies reported allergic reactions or other serious adverse events related to the absorbable mesh. Conclusions. Patients with an absorbable mesh seem to have less chronic pain following inguinal hernia surgery compared with permanent meshes, without increased risk of recurrence.

An 18-Year Nationwide Cohort Study on The Association Between Diverticulitis and Colon Cancer.

Objective: To investigate the association between diverticulitis and colon cancer in a large, nationwide cohort study. Background: Diverticulitis is a common disease, especially in the Western world. Previous articles have investigated the association between diverticulitis and colon cancer with inconclusive results. Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study based on longitudinal Danish national registers with data from the period 1995 to 2012. Data were extracted from comprehensive Danish national registers containing information from both public and private hospitals. Patients with diverticulitis were identified from the registers and matched by sex and age (± 1 year) with a ratio of 1:10 to people who did not have a registration of diverticulitis or diverticulosis. Main outcome was the event of colon cancer. Subgroup analyses were performed to investigate the effect of colonoscopies and treatment on the colon cancer rate after diverticulitis. Results: A total of 445,456 people were included, of whom 40,496 had a diagnosis of diverticulitis. The incidence of colon cancer in the group with diverticulitis (4.3%) and the group without diverticulitis (2.3%) differed significantly (P < 0.001) with an incidence rate ratio of 1.86 (95% confidence interval, CI, 1.77–1.96). When adjusted for possible confounders, the association between diverticulitis and cancer remained significant with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.20 (95% CI 2.08–2.32) (P < 0.001). Those with diverticulitis, who had no colonoscopy, had an increased risk of colon cancer compared with those without both diverticulitis and colonoscopy with an OR of 2.72 (95% CI 2.64–2.94) (P < 0.001). Conclusions: We found a strong association between development of diverticulitis and colon cancer. This raises several questions regarding the possible causal association and warrants further studies. Patients with diverticulitis should undergo endoscopic surveillance for colon cancer.

Open preperitoneal groin hernia repair with mesh: A qualitative systematic review

BACKGROUND For the repair of inguinal hernias, several surgical methods have been presented where the purpose is to place a mesh in the preperitoneal plane through an open access. The aim of this systematic review was to describe preperitoneal repairs with emphasis on the technique. DATA SOURCES A systematic review was conducted and reported according to the PRISMA statement. PubMed, Cochrane library and Embase were searched systematically. Studies were included if they provided clinical data with more than 30 days follow up following repair of an inguinal hernia with an open preperitoneal mesh technique. CONCLUSIONS A total of 67 articles were included, describing nine different methods: Kugel, TREPP, TIPP, Onstep, Horton/Florence, Nyhus, Ugahary, Read, and Stoppa. In general, results regarding pain, recurrences and complications seem promising. It was not possible to conduct a meta-analysis. Open preperitoneal techniques with placement of a mesh through an open approach seem promising compared with the standard anterior techniques. This systematic review provides an overview of these techniques together with a description of surgical methods and clinical outcomes.

The Onstep Method for Inguinal Hernia Repair: Operative Technique and Technical Tips

Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common surgical procedures and several different surgical techniques are available. The Onstep method is a new promising technique. The technique is simple with a number of straightforward steps. This paper provides a full description of the technique together with tips and tricks to make it easy and without complications.