[Comparison of various methods of surgical hernia repair]

Over the last 15 years, a number of different procedures for hernia repair have been developed. Apart from the open techniques, with or without the use of a prosthetic mesh or mesh plug, endoscopic procedures such as transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP), and totally endoscopic preperitoneal (TEPP), hernioplasty are now established operations. In the present paper, the common open surgical procedures are compared with the minimally invasive repairs with regard to practicability, postoperative wound pain and complications, mobilization, recurrence rates and cosmesis. In the view of the authors, the standard method for inguinal hernial repair is the open Lichtenstein procedure or the Rutkow patch and plug method.