Laparoscopic repair of wound defects in the elderly: our experience of 5 years

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic approach for wound defects is a procedure that aims to reduce surgical aggressiveness against the abdominal wall by using minimal incisions and dedicated instruments. METHODS: We report our experience about clinical outcome of elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic repair for incisional hernias (Group I) and primary inguinal hernias (Group II) from June 2007 to September 2012. We analyzed preoperative and postoperative data for the laparoscopic approach in the elderly. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: In our experience there was no significant difference in laparoscopic procedure between normalweight and overweight patients. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic repair for primary inguinal hernias and incisional ventral hernias with transabdominal placement of composite mesh in the elderly achieves excellent results with lower morbidity in comparison with open surgical approaches.