Laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal and totally extraperitoneal in inguinal hernia surgery: comparison of intraoperative and postoperative early complications of two techniques

PURPOSE: Totally extraperitoneal (TEP) and transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) are laparoscopic techniques frequently used in inguinal hernia surgeries. There are very few studies directly comparing the outcomes of TEP and TAPP. The present study compared both techniques’ technical aspects, intraoperative and postoperative early complications. METHODS: In this study, 108 patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia underwent laparoscopic surgery between May 2016 and December 2020. Seventy six of these patients (70.4%) underwent TEP, and 32 (29.6%) underwent TAPP. This study was retrospective. However, the data were registered prospectively (including video recordings). RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the groups regarding age, sex, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologist physical status classification, and duration of hospitalization. Although the TEP group had a higher overall complication rate than TAPP, the difference between the two groups was not significant (TEP, 9.2% vs. TAPP, 3.1%, p = 0.979). Two conversions and two recurrences (2.6% each) were observed in TEP. The hematoma was seen in one case in both techniques (3.1% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.665), respectively. A patient in the TEP group developed a pseudoaneurysm and was treated with endovascular embolization. CONCLUSION: In our study, conversion and intraoperative early postoperative complications were more prevalent in TEP than TAPP. On the other hand, no significant difference was determined between the results of the two techniques. It has been found that TAPP is as safe as TEP in inguinal hernia surgery; however, the superiority of one method over the other was not observed in this study.