ObjectiveTo summarize the changes of inguinal hernia in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in the past 7 years and the curative effect of each procedure.MethodsRetrospectively searched the clinical data of 1 078 patients with inguinal hernia operated in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2011 to December 2017. According to the surgical procedure, patients were divided into tissue repair group, laparoscopic hernia repair group (laparoscopic group), and open tension-free hernia repair group (open group). Subsequently, the patients of the open group were divided into the mesh plug technique group, the plain patch technique group, and the Ultrapro Hernia System (UHS) group. The postoperative of each procedure, such as recurrence, chronic pain, foreign body sensation, hard touch of the surgical site, male sexual function, and fertility status were compared.ResultsIn 1 078 patients, 52 patients underwent tissue repair, 889 patients underwent open tension-free hernia repair (687 patients were counted with mesh-seal tablets, 100 patients with plain patch count, 102 patients with preperitoneal hernia repair), and 137 patients underwent laparoscopic hernia repair. There was no significant difference in the incidence of total complication, chronic pain, foreign body sensation, and male sexual function decline in the laparoscopic group and the open group (P>0.05). However, the recurrence rate and hard touch of the surgical site rate of the laparoscopic group were lower (P<0.05), and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) score was also slightly lower (P=0.047). There was no significant difference in the incidence of the recurrence, chronic pain, foreign body sensation, and male sexual function decline between the three subgroups of the open group, but the total complication rate and hard touch of the surgical site rate in the UHS group were lower than those in the mesh plug group and the plain patch group (P<0.05).ConclusionsLaparoscopic repair of the inguinal herniorrhaphy has lower incidence of occurrence, it is worthy of clinical promotion. In the open tension-free surgery, the retroperitoneal herniorrhaphy may be a better choice.