To compare the clinical efficacy and complications of traditional surgery, small incisional and laparoscopy in the treatment of inguinal hernia in children.

Four hundred and thirteen cases of hernia were retrospectively analyzed from January 2005 to December 2016 in the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and Zhuhai Maternal and Child Health Hospital. According to the surgical methods, there were 145 cases in the traditional group, 112 in the small incision group and 156 in the laparoscopic group. The operative time, blood loss, activity time, hospitalization time, postoperative pain score, incidence of incision pain, infection rate of incision, incidence of secondary hydrocele and recurrence rate of hernia were compared.

For laparoscopic group, operation time, bleeding volume, postoperative pain score, independent activity time, hospitalization time and average hospitalization cost were all respectively less than the traditional group and small incision group, with statistical differences (F=11.616, 15.865, 9.740, 8.612, 6.207, 3.113, all P<0.05). For laparoscopic group, hematoma of scrotum rate, wound infection rate, incision pain incidence, recurrence rate and incidence of hydrocele were all lower than the traditional group and small incision group, with statistical differences ( χ²=7.175, 6.714, 11.071, 8.252, 6.470, all P<0.05).

Laparoscopic surgery has obvious advantages and low risk in pediatric inguinal hernia. It can be encouraged for the conditional hospitals to reduce the occurrence of local trauma and some complications.