The Art of Hernia Surgery: A Step-by-Step Guide

This book is a comprehensive guide to the surgical repair of inguinal and abdominal wall hernias that not only describes all potential approaches, but also places them in the context of the anatomy of the region, the pathology, and the advances in scientific knowledge over the past decade. It documents in detail the individual techniques applicable in each region (inguinal, femoral, and ventral), highlighting tips and tricks and focusing on indications, potential complications, and outcomes. In addition, it presents cases of incisional hernia and examines less frequent and rare cases and complex situations. Written for surgeons from around the globe, it includes procedures used in wealthy, developed countries and those without mesh more commonly employed in developing countries. With a format designed to facilitate use in daily practice, it is invaluable for residents seeking step-by-step guidance on procedures ranging from repair of simple inguinal hernias to complex reconstruction; for general surgeons who frequently perform hernia repairs; and for hernia specialists aiming to achieve optimal results. It also appeals to researchers with an interest in the scientific background to hernia surgery.

Giampiero Campanelli is a professor of surgery at the University of Insubria and head of General Surgery – Day & Week Surgery Unit of Istituto Clinico Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. Director of the Center of Research and  High Specialization on Abdominal Wall Hernia Surgery, University of Insubria – Hernia Center of Milano. 

He is also president of the European Hernia Society, past president of the Italian Society of Ambulatory and Day Surgery, president of the First World Congress on Abdominal Wall Repair in 2015 in Milan, Honorary President of Africa Middle East Hernia Society ( AMEHS). 

He is a member of the editorial board of Hernia, and author of more than 300 publications. He has also been an invited speaker and has done live surgery at more than 500 international and national congresses.

His personal surgical activity is over 8000 operations in general and hernia surgery. For over 25 years he has devoted his time to the issue of abdominal wall repair and has performed, in this field, about 7000 surgeries. A pioneer of sutureless tension-free inguinal hernia repair under local anaesthesia, he refined an original approach for the treatment of giant inguinal hernias, lumbar hernias, incisional hernias with loss of substance, Spigelian hernias, pubic inguinal pain syndrome and chronic postoperative pain, and the floppy abdomen post partum.

He is the author and principal investigator of the international TI.ME.LI trial (Randomized, Controlled, Blinded Trial of Tisseel/Tissucol for Mesh Fixation in Patients Undergoing Lichtenstein Technique for Primary Inguinal Hernia Repair), published on Annals of Surgery and one of the principal works on prevention of chronic postoperative pain syndrome.

He has taken part in several humanitarian missions in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin Ecuador, Paraguay to make his experience available to needy people and teach local surgeons and share his experience with them.