To investigate the safety and effectiveness of the transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) approach with negative pressure drainage in type Ⅰ giant inguinal scrotal hernia (GISH).

From January 2017 to December 2020, 37 patients who underwent TAPP with negative pressure drainage for type Ⅰ GISH in our hospital were reviewed and retrospectively analyzed. The types of hernia, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications and recurrence rate were recorded.

All the patients were successfully repaired through the TAPP approach with negative pressure drainage with no additional auxiliary puncture ports or laparotomies. The operative time was (147.3±21.8) minutes. The orifice size of the hernia was (48.6±11.5) mm and the intraoperative blood loss was (31.9±17.3) ml. After operations, the drainage time was (7.2±2.3) days, and the volume of drainage in each patient was (820.8±138.2) ml. No injury of celiac organs occurred during operation. However, minor complications occurred in 3 cases. In one case, the inferior epigastric artery was injured in the operation. A seroma formed in one patient which occurred 2 days after removal of the drainage tube. One patient developed an infection at the site of the umbilical puncture, which was treated by changing the dressing. The mean follow-up was 13.7 months and there was no recurrence or mesh infection during the period.

TAPP combined with negative pressure drainage is a safe and effective approach for type Ⅰ GISH with low operative complications. Due to the small sample size of this study, it still required prospective, large-sample and long-term follow-up results to confirm.