The aim was to elucidate the prevalence of complications associated with adults' inguinal hernia repairs in Finland.
We reviewed the notices of patient injury associated with inguinal hernia repairs, as reported in 2003 to 2007 to the Patient Insurance Centre. We analyzed the associated causes, compensations, and compensation criteria. The numbers and types of hernia operations performed during the same period in the whole country were retrieved from the notification register.
A total of 55,000 hernia operations were carried out during this period, resulting in 250 notices of patient injury. Of these, 92 resulted in compensation.
Besides severe pain, serious complications from inguinal hernia repairs seem to be rare.