Laparoscopic Repair for Inguinal Hernias · is there a place for IPOM technique? Indications, technique and results

The description by Edoardo Bassini in 1890 of his herniorrhaphy marked the beginning of a new era in the treatment of inguinal hernia. Widely accepted in the western world, the results were not, however, as effective as the ones reported by him. This fact was due in part by an inaccurate description of Bassini’s original “triple layer repair”, particularly in the United States and thus, division of the transv er salis fascia was not emphasized. Recurrence rates of up to 10% in some American series lead to seek different approaches to this common pathology. In 1959 Francis Usher described the use of polypropylene mesh for non-tension repair of inguinal hernia (1), later popularized by Irving Lichtenstein in California (2). Shouldice in Canada rediscovered the Bassini’s repair and championed the short-stay repair, and Ira Rutkow in New Jersey described the “plug and patch” repair. All of these techniques represent anterior approaches.