Routine contralateral exploration is advisable during extraperitoneal hernioplasty for left inguinal hernia

Excerpt

Controversy still exists as to whether the contralateral groin should be routinely explored during totally extraperitoneal hernioplasty for a clinically unilateral hernia. Bochkarev and colleagues are to be commended for their diligent study, which showed an overall 22% occurrence of occult contralateral hernia among 100 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of pure unilateral inguinal hernia before surgery [1]. They conclude, rather categorically, as in all previous studies of the same disorder, that routine bilateral groin exploration “appears” to be valuable. Interestingly, when we look at their raw data from a slightly differently perspective, two important messages emerge. …