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Repair of a groin hernia is one of the most common elective operations performed in general surgery. Our aim was to compare laparoscopic repair with open repair of groin hernia.

At 26 hospitals in the UK and lreland, 928 patients with groin hernia were randomly assigned to laparoscopic repair (n=468) or open hernia repair (n=460, of which 433 were tension-free mesh repairs). Patients were clinically assessed at 1 week and 1 year after surgery, and were sent questionnaires at 3 months and 1 year. The primary endpoints were: complications: return to usual activities of social life (as the most generally applicable example of return to usual activities); hernia recurrence; groin pain that persisted at 1 year; and costs to the health services. All analyses were by intention to treat.

At 1 week, at least one complication was found in 108 (29·9%) patients allocated to laparoscopic repair …