• Justin J Clark, Whitney Limm, and Linda L Wong.
• Department of Surgery, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA. jjclark_md@yahoo.com
• Am. J. Surg. 2011 Dec 1; 202 (6): 754-7; discussion 757-8.

BackgroundFactors that predispose patients to the development of inguinal hernias will persist after repair. This study aimed to determine the incidence of future contralateral hernia repair.MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of a non-Medicare claims database (1999-2009) to identify patients billed for 2 asynchronous initial inguinal hernia repairs.ResultsIn this database, 7,050 patients were followed up for a mean of 3.6 years, 272 patients required a contralateral hernia repair. The mean time between hernia repairs was 2.9 years and the same surgeon repaired both hernias in 67.6%. Fifteen patients had incarcerated contralateral hernias (5.5%). Patients who required contralateral repairs were older (62.2 vs 59.6 y; P = .014) and had prostate disease (odds ratio, 1.45; P = .0001). The risk of needing a contralateral inguinal hernia repair at 5 and 10 years of follow-up evaluation was 2.5% and 3.8%, respectively.ConclusionsDespite a reported 8% to 22% incidence of clinically unsuspected contralateral inguinal hernia, the likelihood of undergoing contralateral repair within 10 years is low at 3.8%.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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