Paraesophageal hiatal hernia: Open vs. laparoscopic surgery

BACKGROUND: paraesophageal hiatal hernia represents 5-10% of hiatal hernias. Its importance is based on the severe complications it may have, including gastric volvulus, and surgical treatment is recommended when a diagnosis is established. MATERIAL AND METHODS: a retrospective study of all patients who underwent surgery for paresophageal hernia between 1985 and 2007. RESULTS: we studied 90 cases, 68 females and 22 males with a median age of 67.6 years (37-96). Forty-five patients reported pyrosis, 34 epigastric postprandial pain, and 15 dysphagia; eight patients were diagnosed with gastric volvulus. Eighty-one patients underwent elective surgery and 9 emergency surgery. Forty-seven cases underwent an open procedure and 43 a laparoscopic one; 5 (11.6%) of them required conversion. The techniques performed were D Or fundoplication in 35 cases, Nissen in 35, Toupet in 14, simple hiatal closure in 2, Narbona in 1, and Lortat-Jakob in 1; in 10 patients a mesh was placed. The complication rate for open procedure was 10.6 and 9.5% for the laparoscopic one (p > 0.05). Median hospital stay was 9.1 days for the open procedure and 3.4 for the laparoscopic one (p < 0.05). As follow-up, we analyzed 84 patients. After a median follow-up of 12 years (1-19), 15 patients were still symptomatic (17.8%), with recurrence in 8 cases (5 required reoperation). The satisfaction rate was 95.5%. CONCLUSION: equivalent results were observed after laparoscopic and open surgery and a significant shorter hospital stay in the laparoscopic one. Therefore, we think that laparoscopic surgery should be considered as the election procedure for paraesophageal hiatal hernia.