Inguinal herniotomy with the Mitchell-Banks' technique is safe in older children.
PURPOSE
There is a tendency for the majority of surgeons to open the inguinal canal in children over two years old when performing inguinal hernia repair. On the other hand, in small children, most surgeons perform the herniotomy superficially to the external ring, as in Mitchell-Banks' technique (MBT). Our aim was to compare the Ferguson hernioplasty (FH) and Mitchell-Banks' technique in terms of recurrence and complication rates in older children.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the office medical records of children who were at least two years old and who underwent a herniotomy procedure for inguinal hernia between 1997 and 2012.


RESULTS
The 4520 inguinal herniotomy procedures in boys who were over two years old were included in this study. Of these cases, 1607 cases (40.2%) were operated on by a FH with opening the inguinal canal, and 2388 cases (59.8%) by MBT superficially to the external ring. The median ages were 5.1 years (range, 2.0-16.2) in the FH group and 4.6 years (2.0-14.6) in the MBT group. The total complication rates were 2.3% in the FH group and 2.9% in the MBT group (P>.05). Early complications such as wound infection, scrotal edema, and hematoma were seen in 13 (0.8%), 15 (1%), and 10 (0.6%) in the FH group, and 12 (0.5%), 18 (0.7%), and 15 (0.6%) in the MBT group, respectively (P>.05). Late complications such as recurrence, trapped undescended testis, and testicular atrophy were seen in 2 (0.12%), 1 (0.06%), and 2 (0.12%) in the FH group, and 3 (0.12%), 1 (0.04%), and 2 (0.08%) in the MBT group (P>.05).


CONCLUSION
The Mitchell-Banks technique is a simple and safe procedure in older boys.
['Türk|Erdal|E|', 'Memetoglu|Mehmet Erdal|ME|', 'Edirne|Yesim|Y|', 'Karaca|Fahri|F|', 'Saday|Cezmi|C|', 'Güven|Ahmet|A|']
D000293:Adolescent D001284:Atrophy D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D003456:Cryptorchidism D004487:Edema D006406:Hematoma D006552:Hernia, Inguinal D059685:Herniorrhaphy D006801:Humans D008297:Male D012008:Recurrence D012189:Retrospective Studies D012611:Scrotum D013530:Surgical Wound Infection D006848:Testicular Hydrocele
Complication Mitchell-Banks technique High ligation Indirect inguinal hernia