ABSTRACT
Almost all hernia repairs that are performed laparoscopically utilize some form of prosthetic biomaterial. One notable exception is the infrequent small hernias found during laparoscopic incisional and ventral hernioplasty, which are merely sutured. The early pioneers in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair generally used polypropylene mesh (PPM) products, but a few attempted to use expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). Incisional and ventral hernioplasty utilized ePTFE when it was first described. Currently, PPM and ePTFE prostheses are the preferred biomaterials for the laparoscopic repair of inguinal and incisional hernias, respectively. The preferences for each of these operations and the choice of prostheses are described in the following chapters. This chapter will present the currently available materials that are used for the laparoscopic repair of hernias.
