Objective To investigate the application value of ambulatory surgery mode for small and medium abdominal wall hernia repair.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinical data of 33 patients with small and medium abdominal wall hernia who were admitted to Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of Capital Medical University from January 2019 to January 2021 were collected. There were 19 males and 14 females, aged 54(range, 26‒85)years. Patients individually underwent Onlay repair, Sublay repair, intraperitoneal onlay mesh repair (IPOM)according to the diagnosis and treatment mode of ambulatory surgery. Observation indicators: catogaries of small and medium abdominal wall hernia, surgical methods, intraoperative measured diameter of hernia ring defect, operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, duration of hospital stay, delayed discharge of patients, hospitalization expenses, postoperative follow-up, complications, postoperative visual analogue scale of pain, chronic pain, postoperative satisfaction. Follow-up using telephone interview or outpatient examinations was conducted to detect hernia recurrence, surgical-related complications (wound infection, pain, hematoma or seroma, intestinal leakage, intestinal obstruction) and postoperative satisfaction at postoperative 3 days, 7 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range), and count data were represented as absolute numbers.

Results Of the 33 patients, 16 cases had umbilical hernia, 14 cases had incisional hernia, 3 cases had lumbar hernia. There were 7 patients treated with Onlay repair, 16 with Sublay repair, and 10 cases with IPOM. The intraoperative measured diameter of hernia ring defect, operation time and volume of intraoperative blood loss of 33 patients were 2.8(range, 1.0‒6.0)cm, 51(range, 20‒85)minutes, 4.3(range, 1.0‒10.0)mL. The duration of hospital stay of 33 patients was 24‒48 hours, including 25 cases with duration of hospital stay ≤24 hours, 8 cases with duration of hospital stay >24 hours and ≤48 hours. Of the 8 patients undergoing IPOM with delayed discharge, 5 cases had postoperative pain and 3 cases had dizziness, nausea and vomiting after general anesthesia. They were recovered and discharged from hospital after observation and symptomatic support until the next morning. The hospitalization expenses were 17 139(range, 6404‒34 124)yuan. All the 33 patients were followed up regularly after operation. No hernia recur-rence, wound infection, hematoma and seroma, intestinal fistula or intestinal obstruction was observed during the follow-up period. From postoperative 3 days to 12 months, the visual analogue scale of pain was from 2.90±0.10 to 0 for patients with Onlay repair, from 3.10±0.10 to 0 for patients with Sublay repair, from 3.50±0.20 to 0 for patients with IPOM. No patient suffered from chronic pain after the operation and postoperative satisfaction of patients was 100%.

Conclusion The ambulatory surgery mode has safety and feasibility in small and medium abdominal wall hernia repair.