The wound was closed in layers, using absorbable suture. All patients were followed up in the out-patient clinic after 7 days, 2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years. Parents were advised to contact the department of pediatric surgery, if there were any concerns research use only in the immediate postoperative period. 3. Statistical Analysis The collected data were organized, tabulated, and statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16 (SPSS Inc., USA). Qualitative data, frequency, and percent distribution were calculated, and Chi square test was used for comparison between groups. Quantitative data, mean, standard deviation (SD), and range were calculated, and for comparison between two groups, the independent samples (t) test was used. For interpretation of results, P < 0.

05 was considered significant. 4. Results Two hundred and fifty patients with IH were operated upon by 2 different techniques. Group A (n = 125) was subjected to laparoscopic assisted inguinal hernia repair by RN. Group B (n = 125) was subjected to OH. They were 179 males and 71 females. The youngest was 5 months and the oldest was 96 months, given an overall mean age of 61.56 �� 28.32 months. All procedures of group A were completed laparoscopically without any conversion. No intraoperative complications occurred during this study. In group A the patients resumed normal activities within 6 hours after surgery, whereas in patients of group B they resumed normal activities within 10 hours. All patients had uneventful postoperative recoveries and were discharged on the same day of admission.

The mean hospital stay was 5 �� 3.23 hours with no significant difference between both groups. There is significant statistical difference between the studied groups as regards operative time (Table 2). Three cases developed hydrocele in the early postoperative follow-up period in group A, while in group B, postoperative hydrocele was reported in 5 cases. However, all cases responded well to conservative management within 3 weeks (Table 3). Over a mean follow-up period of 24 months (range of 16�C30 months), the recurrence rate was 0.8% (one case) in group A, whereas in group B recurrence rate was 2.4% (3 cases) (Table 3). Table 2 Distribution of the studied groups according to operative time. Table 3 Postoperative complications in the studied groups.

In group A, there were no cases of iatrogenic ascent of the testis, while in group B 4 cases (4.35%) developed iatrogenic ascent of the testis. The early cosmetic results for bilateral cases were excellent (Figures 3(a) and 3(b)). At a follow-up examination more than 6 months later, there were practically no visible scars in group A, while Anacetrapib in group B 5 cases had ugly scars as reported by parents (Figure 4). The umbilical scars were not visible in all of the patients of group A. Figure 3 (a) Bilateral huge inguinal hernia. (b) Postoperative view.