Preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum for giant inguinal hernias

Abstract

Reduction of giant hernia contents into the abdominal cavity may cause intraoperative and postoperative problems such as abdominal compartment syndrome. Preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum expands the abdominal cavity, increases the patient′s tolerability to operation, and can diminish intraoperative and postoperative complications. Preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum is recommended for giant ventral hernias, but rarely for giant inguinal hernias. We present two giant inguinal hernia patients who were prepared for hernia repair with preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum and then treated successfully by graft hernioplasty. We observed that abdominal expansion correlated with the inflated volume and pressure during the first four days of pneumperitoneum. Although insufflated gas volume can be different among patients, we observed that the duration of insufflation may be the same for similar patients.