HERNIAS

No disease of the human body, belonging to the province of the surgeon, requires in its treatment a better combination of accurate anatomical knowledge with surgical skill than Hernia in all its varieties.   (Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1804)

A hernia is a protrusion of a viscus or part of a viscus through an abnormal opening in the walls of its containing cavity. The external abdominal hernia is the commonest form, the most frequent varieties being the inguinal, femoral and umbilical, respectively, 75, 8.5 and 15 per cent (Fig. 62.1). The rarer forms comprise 1.5 per cent, excluding incisional hernias.