Objective:

To investigate with which surgical technique, direct closure or use of a Goretex patch, congenital diaphragmatic hernias recurre more.

Methodology:

The data of the patients who underwent repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia at the National Children’s Hospital from January 2008 to December 31, 2017, were reviewed retrospectively. Of the 94 patients, only 59 met the inclusion criteria. For the comparison of the quantitative variables, Student’s t-test and 95% confidence intervals were used, the qualitative variables were analyzed by the Fisher’s test with a significance level of 0.05.

Results:

Most of the operated diaphragmatic hernias were left 78% and posterolateral 91%. The most frequent repair technique used was direct closure, 68%. There were more recurrences after closing when a Goretex patch was used. They occurred between 1 and 12 months post-operatively. There was no statistically significant difference between recurrences with the direct closure technique versus closure with the Goretexpatch.

Conclusion:

Performing a direct closure of the diaphragm is a good surgical option for surgical repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernias. There were no statistically significant differences in relapse in this study between using the direct closure or patch technique.