Inguinal Hernia:The Quest for the Best Repair

ABSTRACT

Background: Inguinal hernia repair may be the most common procedure in general surgery. Many repairs have been described but none appears completely satisfactory. A brief look at the popular methods of repair from the traditional tissue approximation to the current meshbased techniques is presented. Methods: The PubMed database was searched for all eng language literature. Further references were obtained through cross-referencing the bibliography cited in each work and using books from the authors' collection. Conclusion: The history of inguinal hernia is a rich one; from the traditional tissue approximation techniques to the current mesh-based repairs which are now performed as open or laparoscopic procedures. Recurrent rates have reduced but are still a problem. Perhaps the perfect repair remains elusive because the problem may also be with patients' collagen not just the surgical procedure