Day-surgery inguinal hernia repair in the elderly: Single centre experience

Abstract

Background: Inguinal hernioplasty is well established as a day-surgery procedure, our purpose is to assess the safeness of this approach in elderly patients. Methods. A total of 292 inguinal hernioplasty were performed between June 2009 and February 2013. Patients were divided into 3 groups depending on the age and postoperative complications were compared in these groups. Results: Despite of a large number of higher risk (ASA 3-4) patients and a higher rate of comorbidity in older patients, unplanned admission postoperative, symptoms and complications were comparable with those for the younger patients. Conclusions: Ambulatory surgery is feasible also in older patients. Age, comorbidity and higher ASA risk should not be a barrier to elective day surgery. © 2013 Amato et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.