Ambulatory surgery is not commonly practiced in France today. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the feasibility of ambulatory hernia repair in a consecutive series of unselected patients.

From June 2008 to October 2009, 257 patients (238 men and 19 women, median age 65 years) were treated in a same-day surgery unit for 270 hernias (244 groin hernias, 25 ventral hernias and one Spiegelian hernia).

For groin hernia, the techniques included the totally extraperitoneal repair (TEP) in 108 cases, the transinguinal preperitoneal (TIPP) approach in 106 cases and other alternative techniques in 30 cases; for ventral hernias, the technique was an open suture in 20 cases, an open prosthetic repair in four cases and laparoscopic repair in one case. Anesthesia was general in 145 cases, local in 121 cases and spinal in four cases. Repair was completed in a same-day surgery setting in 242 (89.6%) cases; hospital stay greater than 23hours was planned for 21 (7.8%) patients while non-programmed hospitalizations were necessary for seven (2.6%) patients. There were two (0.7%) readmissions and nine (3.3%) benign postoperative complications.

These results suggest that groin and ventral hernia repair can be performed in an outpatient setting in nearly 90% of unselected patients.