Table 4.

Long-term follow-up (>48 months) of RCTs comparing endoscopic mesh techniques (TEP/TAPP) with Lichtenstein mesh repair

Year	First author	Groups	Number of patients	Follow-up duration (months, mean)	Follow-up number (percentage with physical examination)	Recurrence (%)	Chronic pain (%)a
2002	Wright et al. [321]	TEP vs. Lichtenstein	256	60	256 (48%)	2.0 vs. 0	Impossible to extract the data
2003	Douek et al. [84]	TAPP vs. Lichtenstein	403	69	242 (100%)	1.6 vs. 2.5	0 vs. 5.0
2004	Heikinnen et al. [130]	TAPP/TEPb vs. Lichtensteinb	123	70	121 (75%)	8.1 vs. 3.4	0 vs. 6.8
2004	Grant et al. [117]	TEP vs. Lichtenstein	928	60	558 (0%)c	Data not available	2.1 vs. 1.5
2004	Köninger et al. [165]	TAPP vs. Lichtenstein	187	52	157 (100%)	Data not available	0 vs. 3.9
2007	Butters et al. [54]	TAPP vs. Lichtenstein	187	52	157 (100%)	1.2 vs. 1.3	Impossible to extract the data
2008	Hallén et al. [124]	TEP vs. Lichtenstein	168	88	147 (100%)	4.3 vs. 5.1	5.5 vs. 2.5
2007	Eklund et al. [88]	TAPP vs. Lichtensteind	147	61	132 (100%)	19 vs. 18	0 vs. 0

^aVariety of definitions, but only severe pain prevalence was scored

^bThree separate trials combined

^cOnly questionnaire

^dOnly recurrent hernia