Laparoscopic Ventral Hernia Repair

Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair (LVHR) was developed as a minimally invasive approach to the gold standard Rives-Stoppa repair. The Rives-Stoppa repair revolutionized abdominal wall reconstruction by markedly decreasing hernia recurrence with widely overlapping retromuscular mesh. The first description of laparoscopic ventral herniorrhaphy was published by LeBlanc in 1993. By 1999, there were 40 manuscripts highlighting this advance in hernia repair and several comparative analyses noting reduced hospitalization and a decrease in wound complications and surgical site infection. However, it was not until after 2000 that the technique was popularized with the publication by Heniford, Park, Ramshaw, and Voeller of a large multicenter series of laparoscopic ventral hernia repairs with a low complication rate and hernia recurrence rate of 3.4%. While the landscape of ventral hernia repair has shifted remarkably since that landmark publication due to increasing patient complexity, obesity, and innovative technology, laparoscopic ventral hernia repair continues to play a major role in the care of ventral hernia patients.