[The surgical treatment of preperitoneal inguinal hernia: a comparison between the methods of Rives and Stoppa]

In groin hernia surgery pre-peritoneal prosthetic repair is a valid alternative to traditional inguinal repair in patients with a large area of transversalis fascia weakness: direct, inguinoscrotal, recurrent, bilateral hernias. Pre-peritoneal prosthetic surgical approach by Rives' technique (little unilateral prosthesis) has been used in 121 cases (24% bilateral and 67% recurrent hernias) and by Stoppa's technique (great bilateral prosthesis) in 95 cases (26% bilateral and 55% recurrent hernias). The results demonstrated 9.9% morbidity and 5.7% recurrences by Rives' technique vs 3.1 morbidity and complete absence of recurrences by Stoppa's technique. These results confirm the validity of large prosthetic pre-peritoneal repair in groin surgery.