P129 THORACIC VS. ABDOMINAL APPROACHES FOR DIAPHRAGMATIC HERNIA REPAIR: A NATIONWIDE STUDY OF CLINICAL OUTCOMES
Abstract Aim “To compare the outcomes of different surgical approaches for diaphragmatic hernia (DH) repair.” Material and Methods “Adult patients with a principal admitting diagnosis of uncomplicated DH registered in the National Inpatient Sample in the period 2010-2015 were included. Patients with obstruction, gangrene, or congenital hernias were excluded. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were the incidence of complications, length of stay, and hospital charges. A multivariate logistic regression model adjusted by age, sex, elective admission, comorbidities, and hospital characteristics was used to analyze the impact of the surgical approach on the evaluated outcomes.” Results “A total of 14910 patients with DH were included (median age 65 years, 74% women). Abdominal approaches were the most commonly performed (78.9% laparoscopy and 13.6% open). Patients that underwent open abdominal and thoracic repairs had a higher risk of complications (sepsis, pneumonia, surgical site infection, prolonged postoperative ileus, and acute myocardial infarction), longer hospital stay, higher total hospital costs, and a significantly higher risk of mortality (OR 2.62. 95% CI 1.59-4.30 and OR 4.60; 95% CI 2.37-8.91, respectively) compared to patients that underwent laparoscopic abdominal repair. Individuals whose DH repair was performed through thoracoscopy had a similar mortality risk to those who underwent laparoscopic abdominal repair (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.11-6.43).” Conclusions “Nowadays, laparoscopy has become the most used approach for DH repair. In the present cohort, it was associated with better outcomes in terms of complications, length of hospital stay, and mortality, as well as lower health costs. Additional studies assessing hernia characteristics are required to validate this result.”