Hernia Repair

Laparoscopic surgery, also referred to as 'minimally invasive surgery' or simply 'keyhole surgery', describes a method of performing operations within the body without needing to make a large incision in the skin to access the internal organs.

A laparoscope is a long flexible tube equipped with a miniature video camera and light on the end that, along with a range of miniaturised surgical instruments, can be inserted into the abdominal cavity through a very small incision or set of incisions which are only 1 or 2cm in length.

Laparoscopic techniques have been in use since the early 1900s, initially used only on animals, with the first laparoscopic procedure on a human conducted in 1910. Laparascopic techniques for a range of different types of surgery have been commonplace since the 1990s.

Today most operations to repair herniae are conducted using laparoscopic surgery, and the main reasons for this are...