To investigate the causes, prevention and treatment of seroma after laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair.

A retrospective analysis was conducted in five hundred and thirty-eight cases undergoing laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair surgery in the Central People's Hospital of Zhanjiang City from January 2014 to April 2018.

Thirty-nine of the 538 patients had seroma after operation, the incidence of seroma was 7.2%, including 33 cases (6.1%) of type Ⅰ/Ⅱ treated with external application of mirabilite, 5 cases (1.0%) of type Ⅲ and the symptoms were improved after external application of mirabilite, fine needle aspiration and other treatments, 1 case (0.2%) of type Ⅳ and the symptoms were not significantly improved after repeated aspiration and accompanied by patch rejection. The second operation took out the patch and completely cleared the serum. Preoperative complications, severity of hernia, surgical methods and hernia sac separation were the influencing factors of postoperative seroma (χ²=4.165,11.242, 3.857, 4.802, P=0.031, 0.001, 0.045, 0.029).

The occurrence of seroma after laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair is related to a variety of factors, and various measurements can be taken during the perioperative period to prevent and treat it.