B. A. Farber1,2, D. H. Midura1,2, P. Sreeramoju1,2 1Albert Einstein College Of Medicine,Surgery,Bronx, NY, USA 2Montefiore Medical Center,Surgery,Bronx, NEW YORK, USA
Introduction: Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common general surgical procedures performed worldwide. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification system is widely used as a system to predict perioperative risk, with ASA class 3 and 4 being high risk for elective surgery. We hypothesized that elective hernia repairs on patients with ASA Class 3 and 4 would have no increased risk of surgical site infections or perioperative morbidity or mortality.
Methods: We performed a retrospective review of National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) data generated from our institution. Data of patients older than 18 years of age undergoing elective inguinal hernia repair between January 2014 and December 2017 was reviewed. Patients were stratified based on American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification system. Categorical variables were assessed using Fishers exact test.
Results:Two hundred fourteen patients were identified during our study period. Median age was 61 years (Range = 19-94 years) and 91% (n=195) were male. One hundred fifty one patients (71%) were ASA 1-2, and 63 patients (29%) were ASA 3-4. Surgical site infections were not found to be significantly increased when stratifying based on ASA classification 1-2 vs 3-4 (p=0.29). There were no mortalities during our study period.
Conclusion:Elective inguinal hernia repairs are safe, and higher ASA class patients do not experience higher rates of morbidity or mortality.