Treatment principles

There is no other hernia treatment method than surgical procedure. Traditional methods of hernia surgery (Bassini, Halsted, Girard, Shouldice) consisted in the stitching of the loss in the abdominal wall through the joining with sutures of separated edges. The human body cannot tolerate a excessive bringing together of tissues, and in such places the strongly tied sutures often cut them, thus creating a new defect. The use of tension methods causes stronger post-operative pain and delayed return to normal activity.

Currently, the tension-free procedures are a standard, in which the defect is closed with synthetic mesh, without the need for muscle tension. Laparoscopic techniques are also employed, using intraabdominal access to the operated hernia. This allows for the closure of the loss from the abdominal cavity, and also belongs to the tension-free techniques using the mesh. This type of surgical procedures is technically more difficult and burdened with a slightly higher risk of complications, therefore, it is usually performed in the treatment of recurrent hernias.

Tension-free surgical methods rely on proper selection of the type of mesh to cover the hernia opening and the surrounding tissue. Synthetic grafts (meshes) differ in their structure and properties.