[The role of Shouldice's operation in treating inguinal hernia]

Clinical estimation of Shouldice procedure in the surgical treatment of inguinal hernia was performed in the group of 95 patients (102 operations) treated in the Second Department of General and Vascular Surgery Clinic at Zabrze between 1994 and 1996. Their ages ranged from 18 to 78 years with an average 53.6. The sex index (men to women) was 11:1. The bilateral hernia was found in seven cases and all of them were treated surgically at the same time. The most treated hernias was considered as type II and V by Gilbert classification. Among treated patients there were six cases of recurrence hernia earlier operated according to other procedures (mainly Bassini, Girard, Halsted, and artificial knitted-graft placed up intraperitoneally). In 28 cases of fascia transversalis large deficiency (the third and fourth type of Gilbert classification) authors used the two-layer modification method of reconstruction instead four layer of hernial canal posterior wall reconstruction the typical for Shouldice procedure. It was sufficient in all cases without respect to hernia size and fascia transversalis deficiency. There were no complications in postoperative periods. The recurrence of hernia, appeared only in one patient (0.98%) nine months after operation. In authors opinion, the Shouldice procedure is the most effective among all classical ways of inquinal hernia repairs.