Inguinal hernia repair: comparison between nerve sparing and neurectomy techniques

Abdominal wall defects are one of the most common surgical pathologies: inguinal hernia is the most frequently encountered of this type of disease. Every year, more than 20 million patients undergo inguinal hernioplasty, representing the most performed surgical procedure in the world. In Italy, an estimated 170,000 inguinal hernia repair operations are performed each year. Chronic groin pain is one of the most debilitating long-term complications after hernioplasty, which can significantly affect the patient’s satisfaction and quality of life after the operation. An experimental retrospective study was conducted at the University Hospital of Catania, in patients operated on between September 2018 and June 2022. The experimental study compares two groups of patients operated on for inguinal hernioplasty. The difference between the two groups is the type of surgical technique chosen: one group will undergo neurectomy of the inguinal nerves, ileoinguinal (II), ileohypogastric (IH), and genitofemoral (GF), in the other group will be chosen the nerve-sparing procedure.