Foreword

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Considering the commonness of inguinal hernia, the long history of its surgical repair, and the abundance of reported operative results, one would think that there would be accepted standardized operative repairs for the various types of anatomical defects. As with many surgical procedures, however, the passage of time, the introduction of new technology, and the development of new methods of evaluating the treatment of a disease and analyzing the results of treatment, clarifies management issues, some of which were “accepted as dogma,” while others had long been vexing. This issue of Current Problems in Surgery brings a state of the art understanding to the management of inguinal hernia. Dr. R. Douglas Matthews and Dr. Leigh Neumayer of the University of Utah have written an outstanding monograph on this topic. Their treatise assesses the evidence for operative and nonoperative management of all types of inguinal hernia and represents a landmark addition to the already substantial literature on the topic.