[Treatment of inguinal hernia by the endoscopic approach. Pre-peritoneal prosthesis. Apropos of 100 cases (with presentation of a video film].

Currently 500,000 inguinal herniorrhaphies are performed annually in United States. Most surgeons approach the inguinal region anteriorly. Very few surgeons use the posterior approach. Cheatle in 1920 followed by Nyhus in 1960, described the preperitoneal hernia repair. The preperitoneal approach has been used for recurrent hernias and for complicated hernias. In 1975, Stoppa added the use of a prosthetic mesh to the preperitoneal herniorrhaphy to improve the recurrence rate (1.4%). In the past few years, laparoscopy has replaced the traditional open technique in certain general surgical procedures (cholecystectomy, appendectomy). In this article, we will show that laparoscopic hernia repair is a viable alternative to the open herniorrhaphy because it combines the use of a proven method (preperitoneal prosthetic hernia repair) and the advantages of laparoscopy (less pain, fast recovery, better cosmesis).