- Surgical therapy for axial hiatal hernia (the cardia (entrance to the stomach) is raised through the diaphragm into the chest cavity) should be performed in case of complications.
- In the paraesophageal form (in this case, the esophagus and cardia are in a normal position in the chest or abdomen, but the gastric fundus pushes next to the esophagus into the chest cavity), surgery is always performed.
Further notes
- The majority of paraesophageal hiatal hernias are now reduced and fixed laparoscopically. The results are consistently better compared with open surgery:
- In-hospital mortality 0.6% vs. 3.0
- Septic complications 0.9% vs. 3.9
- Bleeding complications 0.6 % vs. 1.8 %
- Wound complications 0.4% vs. 2.9
- Hospital stay 4.2 days vs. 8.5 days (after open surgery)