HERNIAS DEL DEPORTISTA. NUESTRA EXPERIENCIA

Abstract

Background: The so called sports hernia or groin injury, represent an increasingly common disease in the population, especially in high performance athletes and even to disputes in the denomination, diagnostic and therapeutic.

Objective: Analyze the performance of a diagnostic-therapeutic algorithm based on physical examination and ultrasound, followed by exploration and laparoscopic repair of inguinal region in a consecutive series of athletes affected by long-standing groin injury. Design: Observational, retrospective, longitudinal.

Setting: Public hospital and private Sports Medical Center

Population: They are of the first 100 patients operated on by laparoscopic hernia repair of an extensive series, which reached 24 months of postoperative follow-up. The group comprised 95 men and 5 women athletes. mean age was 31.80 years, 54 of them were amateurs and 46 professionals.

Methods: Tests were used "U" Mann-Whitney for continuous scale variables and x2 test for dichotomous variables with p <0.05 as level of statistical significance calculations were performed using SPSS for Windows (version 17.0). The quality of life related to health was assessed with the SF36 form during the preoperative visit and within the first year after repair

Results: All patients reported pain of more than six months. In all cases,palpation of the groin triggered sharp pain limited to an area without irradiation and with identical characteristics to that produced by exercise. Ultrasound examination, which extended to both inguinal-pubic regions, detected in 100 patients inguinal areas of weakness. All ultrasound findings were confirmed by laparoscopic exploration was also diagnosed in some cases contralateral defects.