A "New" Nonmesh Technique for Inguinal Hernia Repair: Revisiting E. Wyllys Andrews and His Imbricating Operation

John Yerxa; Hanghang Wang; Theodore N Pappas

doi:10.1097/AS9.0000000000000310

A "New" Nonmesh Technique for Inguinal Hernia Repair: Revisiting E. Wyllys Andrews and His Imbricating Operation

Ann Surg Open. 2023 Jun 29;4(3):e310. doi: 10.1097/AS9.0000000000000310. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

John Yerxa¹, Hanghang Wang², Theodore N Pappas³

Affiliations

¹ From the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, University of Miami/Jackson Health System, Miami, FL.
² Division of Thoracic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, Baltimore, MD.
³ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.

Abstract

The use of prosthetic mesh to repair inguinal hernias has been common practice at surgical centers around the world for more than 30 years. Open tissue repairs are the alternative for patients who cannot have, do not want, or are not offered mesh. Open tissue repairs are troubled by inferior recurrence rates in most clinical trials. In this article, we will review a long-forgotten tissue repair described by Andrews in 1895. In addition, we report on our early experience with the Andrews technique for primary inguinal hernia tissue repair.