What do you know about minimally invasive techniques for hernia treatment?

  The development of minimally invasive surgery is a major trend in future surgery, and it is expected that 80% of surgical procedures will be performed using minimally invasive techniques in the near future.  With the continuous development of laparoscopic technology, laparoscopic hernia repair has emerged since the 1980s. The TAPP is based on stoppa’s open preperitoneal dacron hernia repair, which is performed through the abdominal cavity into the preperitoneal space, then the peritoneal wound is sutured after fixation with a cover patch; TEP is a separation of the preperitoneal space with only two 5-mm and one 10-mm wounds, without entering the abdominal cavity and completely outside the peritoneum, and the hernia pouch is pulled back into the abdominal cavity and the herniated gap is covered with artificial mesh according to endoscopic television images. Therefore, no intra-abdominal adhesions are caused. The advantages of laparoscopic surgery are: reduced postoperative pain and the ability to move early, the ability to examine both inguinal and femoral hernias, the ability to repair bilateral hernias at the same time, and the fact that patients with a clinical hernia on one side have a 25% to 50% chance of having a combined subclinical contralateral hernia, which can therefore be expected to be resolved in a single operation. The use of laparoscopy for recurrent hernias can avoid re-entry through the original surgical incision that could damage nerves or cause ischemic orchitis. Currently, laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair is considered suitable for multiple recurrent hernias and bilateral hernias, and laparoscopic hernia repair has been popularized in some large and medium-sized hospitals in China.  The laparoscopic technique for inguinal hernia is a very safe and highly effective surgical method that can theoretically reduce postoperative recurrence to 0. Moreover, the minimally invasive technique allows patients to have less postoperative pain, faster recovery and less damage to the patient, with obvious advantages. I perform over 600 laparoscopic hernia repairs each year with very satisfactory overall outcomes.