[Repair procedures in surgery of inguinal hernia in their historical evolution]

The last decades have witnessed a great number of "novelties" published for inguinal hernia surgery. However, these are generally modifications of well-known operative procedures. The sole genuinely new method is laparoscopy for which, however, no long-term results are available. An analysis of original articles shows that all surgical techniques for repair of the hernial orifice can be traced back to two simple repair principles: 1) reinforcement of the anterior wall of the inguinal canal and tightening of the external inguinal ring [Stromayr 1559, Purmann 1692, Czerny 1877]. 2) reinforcement of the posterior wall of the inguinal canal and tightening the internal inguinal ring a) externally [Lucas-Championnière 1881, Bassini 1889, Brenner 1898, Lotheissen 1898, McVay 1942, Shouldice 1945, Lichtenstein 1987, Stoppa 1989] or b) via an intra-abdominal approach (by laparotomy [Tait 1891] or laparoscopically [Ger 1990, Velez und Klein 1990]).