A non-surgical technique offers marked advantages over conventional hernia surgery, according to a new study comparing the techniques.
Researchers, writing in the Archives of Surgery, found the new procedure known as TEP – short for total extraperitoneal inguinal hernioplasty – left patients more satisfied and feeling less pain than those who underwent surgery.
The study, conducted by doctors at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, involved 660 patients – half of whom had conventional surgery and half of whom had the TED procedure.
After one year, researchers found fewer TEP patients reported chronic pain, compared to those we underwent surgery (23 percent vs. 32 percent). After five years, the differences were even more pronounced – with just 15 percent of TEP patients experiencing chronic pain vs. 28 percent of those who had surgery.
"Patients are more satisfied after TEP with the surgical procedure and with their operative scars,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, TEP should be recommended in experienced hands."
In addition, fewer of the TEP patients had a hernia recurrence, the study found.