• Parvinder S Sains, Henry S Tilney, Sanjay Purkayastha, Ara W Darzi, Thanos Athanasiou, Paris P Tekkis, and Alexander G Heriot.
• Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
• World J Surg. 2006 Nov 1; 30 (11): 2056-64.

AimThe purpose of this study was to compare short- and long-term outcomes for patients undergoing laparoscopic or open surgery for incisional hernia repair using meta-analytical techniques.MethodsA literature search was performed to identify comparative studies reporting outcomes on laparoscopic versus open surgery for incisional hernia repair. A random-effect meta-analytical model was used and subgroup analysis performed on high-quality studies, those reporting on more than 30 patients, and those published since 2000.ResultsFive studies, with a total of 351 patients, satisfied the inclusion criteria. Laparoscopic surgery was attempted in 148 (42.2%) patients. Overall, in the laparoscopic group, operative time was significantly longer--by 12.0 minutes (P = 0.03) and length of stay reduced by 3.3 days (P < 0.003) although this finding was associated with significant heterogeneity between studies (P < 0.001). There was no difference in the short-term adverse events between the groups, but there were fewer wound infections for laparoscopic patients in high-quality studies [odds ratio (OR) = 0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.05, 0.85, P = 0.03] and those reporting on more than 30 patients (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.84, P = 0.03). No difference in hernia recurrence was shown in the overall or subgroup analysis.ConclusionsLaparoscopic incisional hernia repair was associated with a reduced length of stay and lower wound infection rate. The impact on post-operative quality of life and financial implications needs further prospective, validated evaluation.

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