Previous prospective, retrospective, and meta-analysis studies revealed that the overall incidence of metachronous contralateral inguinal hernia (MCIH) ranges from 5.76% to 7.3%, but long-term follow-up postoperative data are scant. We identified the incidence and risk factors of MCIH in pediatric patients during the follow-up using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Between 1996/01/01 and 2008/12/31, all pediatric patients with primary unilateral inguinal hernia repair who were born after 1996/01/01 were collected via ICD-9 diagnostic and procedure codes recorded in NHIRD. Patients with another operation during the same admission, complicated hernia, or laparoscopic procedure were excluded. Several reported risk factors, including age, sex, preterm birth, low body weight, and previous ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement, were used for analysis. The primary endpoint was the repairmen of MCIH following the initial surgery. All patients were followed until 2013/12/31 or withdrawal from national health insurance. A total of 31,100 pediatric patients underwent unilateral inguinal hernia repair, and 111.76 months of median follow-up data were collected. The overall rate of MCIH was 12.3%. Among the 31,100 patients who had the hernia repair, 63.6% had MCIH within 2 years and 91.5% had MCIH within 5 years. After initial surgery, the incidence of MCIH gradually and significantly decreased with age up to approximately 6 years. Multivariable analysis showed that age <4 y and girls were risk factors for subsequent MCIH. After 17 years of follow-up, the overall MCIH rate was 12.3%, and 91.7% of patients needed repair for MCIH within the first 5 years after initial surgery. Age <4 years and girls were risk factors for MCIH. The contralateral exploration for inguinal hernia should be considered among these patients.

Hepatic metastases are diagnosed synchronously in 3–14% of patients with gastric cancer, and metachronously in up to 37% of patients following ‘‘curative” gastrectomy. Most patients who have gastric cancer and hepatic metastasis are traditionally treated with palliative chemotherapy. The impact of liver resection is still controversial. We attempted to assess whether liver resection can improve survival in cases of metachronous hepatic metastases from gastric cancer through a nationwide database. We conducted a nationwide cohort study using a claims dataset from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We identified all patients with gastric cancer (diagnostic code ICD-9: 151.x) from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patient Database (RCIPD) of the NHIRD who received gastrectomy and as well as those with metachronous (≥180 days after gastrectomy) liver metastases (ICD-9 code: 197.7) between 1996/01/01 and 2012/12/31. Patients with other malignancies, with metastasis in the initial admission for gastrectomy and with other metastases were excluded. They were divided into two groups, liver resection group and non-resection group. All patients were followed till 2013/12/31 or withdrawn from the database because of death. 653 patients who fullfilled the inclusion criteria were included in the research. They were divided into liver resection group (34 patients) and non-resection group (619 patients). There were no differences between the two groups in gender, Charlson Comorbidity index and major coexisting disease. Kaplan-Meier analysis demostrated the liver resection group had significantly better overall survival than the non-resection group. (1YOS: 73.5% vs. 19.7%, 3YOS: 36.9% vs. 6.6%, 5YOS: 24.5.3% vs. 4.4%, p <0.001). After COX analysis, the liver resection group showed statistical significance for improved patient survival (HR = 0.377, 95%CI: 0.255–0.556. p<0.001). Liver resection in patients presenting with metachronous hepatic metastases as the sole metastases after curative resection of gastric cancer is associated with a significant survival improvement and should be considered a treatment option for such patients.

Purpose of this study is to develope a scoring system to predict the likelihood of excess body weight loss (EBWL) ≥ 50% 6-months after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). From April 2016 to September 2018, data was collected from 160 patients (BMI ≥ 32) who underwent primary LSG with at least 6-months follow-up. They were separated into score generation (operated by one surgeon, n = 122) and validation groups (operated by 3 different surgeons, n = 38). EBWL at 6-months ≥ 50% was considered adequate weight loss. Independent variables including age, gender, initial body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, life-style habits, percentage of EBWL and percentage of total body weight loss at 1-week, 1-month, and 3-months were analyzed with mutivariate logistic regression to generate the scoring system. The system was applied to internal and external validation groups to determine efficacy. As results, between the score generation and internal validation groups, the only significant difference in patient characteristics was in exercise participation. EBWL at 1-month > 19.5% (1 point) and EBWL at 3-months > 37.7% (2 points) were identified as independent factors to predict EBWL at 6-months ≥ 50%. When scores were > 1, the system had 94.03% positive predictive value (PPV) and 81.82% negative predictive value (NPV) (AUC: 0.923). Internal validation scores > 1 had a 95.83% PPV and 85.71% NPV (AUC: 0.975). External validation results showed 88.59% PPV and 72.00% NPV (AUC: 0.802). We concluded that this scoring system provides a reliable, objective prediction of EBWL at 6-months ≥ 50%. Patients requiring more aggressive clinical follow-up and intervention can be detected as early as 1- to 3-months after LSG.

To identify the rate of and risk factors for contralateral inguinal hernia (CIH) after unilateral inguinal hernia repair in adult male patients. This retrospective cohort study identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Information on all adult patients who underwent primary unilateral inguinal hernia repair without any other operation was collected using ICD-9 diagnostic and procedure codes. The exclusion criteria were laparoscopic hernia repair, non-primary repair, complicated hernia, other combined procedures, female and undetermined gender. A total of 170,492 adult male patients were included, with a median follow-up of 87 months. The overall CIH rate was 10.5%, with a median time of 48 months to a subsequent hernia operation. The 1-year, 2-year, 3-year and 5-year-recurrent rate was 2.6, 3, 4.3, and 6.7% respectively. Further, 3.7% patients who underwent CIH repair had a complicated inguinal hernia. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that age > 45 y, direct hernia, cirrhosis (HR = 1.564), severe liver disease (HR = 1.663), prostate disease (HR = 1.178), congestive heart failure (HR = 1.138), and history of malignancy (HR = 1.116) had a significantly higher risk of CIH repair. Among adult male patients undergoing long-term follow-up, we identified several significant risk factors for CIH repair. If these risk factors are presented, the surgeon should inform the following risk of CIH repair to patients so that it can be repaired as soon as possible.

Herein, we aimed to explore whether male patients with congenital collagen diseases had a higher risk of inguinal herniation than patients without these diseases. Data were retrospectively collected from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. The study cohort included 1,801 male patients diagnosed with congenital collagen diseases based on the ICD-9 CM diagnostic codes; after propensity score matching, the control group comprised 6,493 men without congenital collagen diseases. The primary endpoint was inguinal hernia repair during the observation period. During a median follow-up period of 133.9 months, the risk of inguinal herniation in the collagen group was significantly higher than that in the control group (HR = 2.237, 95% CI 1.646–3.291, p < 0.001). This phenomenon was observed in patients younger than 18 years (HR: 3.040, 95% CI 1.819–5.083, p < 0.001) and in those aged 18–80 years (HR: 1.909, 95% CI 1.186–3.073, p < 0.001). Asian men with congenital collagen diseases are at a high risk of developing inguinal hernias, regardless of age. Detailed physical examination and patient education should be performed for these patients to prevent inguinal herniation.