Table 2.

Surgeons’ experience and operating time

Author	Patients	Number of participating surgeons	Experience	Operation time
Eklund [17]	n = 665 TEP n = 706 Lichtenstein	TEP: 11 hospitals, 48 surgeon 22 TEP group 26 Lichtenstein group	≥ 25 TEP No surgeon did both techniques	Median: 55 (12–180) min TEP; 55 (20–145) min Lichtenstein; ns
Lau [26]	n = 100 TEP; n = 100 Lichtenstein	–	Specialist surgeons who had experience exceeding 200 corresponding procedures	50 ± 13,2 min for TEP vs 58 ± 17,6 min for Lichtenstein; p < 0.001
Heikkinen [19]	n = 22 TEP n = 23 Lichtenstein All employed	1 Surgical resident	Special interesting and fair experience with open and laparoscopic hernia surgery	Median: 67,5 [72–88] min, range 40–88 min for  TEP vs 53 min,  range  42–78 min for Lichtenstein; p = 0.001
Hamza [39]	n = 25 TEP; n = 25 Lichtenstein	1 Surgeon performing all operation in a four-arm trial (TEP, TAPP, Lichtenstein, open preperitoneal	–	77.4 ± 43.21 min for TEP vs 34.21 ± 23.5 for Lichtenstein; p < 0.001
Dahlstrand [40]	n = 194 TEP; n = 195 Lichtenstein	2 Hospitals, 4 Surgeons	All surgeons were experienced in open and laparoscopic procedures and did not have a preference for either technique	Median 60 min, range 50–72 min for TEP, 70 min, range 60–80 min for Lichtenstein; p < 0.001
Dhankhar [41]	n = 29 TEP; n = 30 Lichtenstein	2 Hospitals		75.93 ± 13.68 min for TEP vs 64.77 ± 12.66 min for Lichtenstein; p = 0.002
Gokalp [18]	n = 61 TEP; n = 62 Lichtenstein	1 Hospital	–	62 ± 14 min for TEP vs 46 ± 11 min for Lichtenstein; p < 0.01