The cause, prevention, and treatment of recurrent groin hernia.

At present, groin hernia repair is associated with a 10% recurrence rate. Despite innumerable modifications of the Bassini technique, this depressing figure remains essentially unimproved. This article documents the two major reasons for failure and presents techniques that are simple, can be performed under local anesthesia in an outpatient setting, allow patients to return home within hours of their surgery, encourage rapid return to unrestricted activity, and are associated with a recurrence rate approaching 0%.