Laparoscopic Pediatric Hernia Surgery

       Pediatric hernia is a common hernia that occurs mostly under the age of 3 years, more in boys than in girls, and more on the right side than on the left side. A few of them are bilateral. It is not difficult to diagnose and mainly presents as a protruding mass in the inguinal region, especially when the child is distressed and active, but disappears after sleep. In children younger than 1 year old, the hernia may heal spontaneously, so it can be observed. Children older than 1 year old have a very low chance of self-healing and surgery is recommended.      Some parents worry that the child is too young to withstand the shock and pain of surgery and resort to the use of hernia belts and injections. However, such an approach is usually ineffective and highly likely to cause spermatic cord adhesions. Surgery is usually divided into traditional hernia bursa high ligation surgery and laparoscopic hernia bursa high ligation. The latter is a new technique that has been developed in recent years. The operation usually takes only 15-30 minutes with skilled techniques.      The procedure is performed by general anesthesia with tracheal intubation, two eyes of 5mm and 3mm in size are made in the abdominal wall to create a pneumoperitoneum, a suture is introduced above the external pubic bone, the hernia sac is ligated in high position, and the procedure is completed. In addition to being minimally invasive, the greatest advantage is that the internal ring opening can be observed in the abdominal cavity and hidden hernias can be detected. The author has found several cases in which children presented with a hernia on one side during surgery, while the hernia was indeed bilateral when viewed from the abdominal cavity, and it was repaired at once without additional cost or pain. At present, laparoscopic pediatric hernia surgery is seen to be a recommended surgical procedure.