Objective  To compare the clinical efficiency and safety of laparoscopic surgery and conventional surgery in the treatment of children with indirect inguinal hernia.

  Methods  Totally 100 children with indirect inguinal hernia were randomly divided into two groups. The conventional group was conducted with conventional surgery, and the laparoscopic group was conducted with laparoscopic surgery. Perioperative clinical indicators, stress and inflammatory indicators, complications and follow-up Results were compared between two groups.

  Results  The operation time, intra-operative blood loss, maximum postoperative temperature, incision length, spontaneous activity time, postoperative pain time and hospital stay in laparoscopic group were lower than those in the conventional group, the levels of white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil percentage (NEUT%), C reactive protein (CRP), plasma cortisol (Cor), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) at 72 hours after operation were better than those in the conventional group, the incidence rate of perioperative complications was lower than that in the conventional group, the total incidence rate of complications in follow-up was lower than that in the conventional group, and all the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  Compared with conventional surgery, laparoscopic surgery has better clinical efficiency, safety and long-term prognosis of children with indirect inguinal hernia.