herniotomy

There are many different approaches to the surgical repair of hernias, including herniorrhaphy, hernioplasty, and herniotomy.

An operation in which the hernia sac is removed without any repair of the inguinal canal is described as a herniotomy.

Decades later, American surgeon Chester McVay (1911-1987) popularized the operation, and this procedure is now referred to as a "Lotheissen-McVay herniotomy".

The first recorded successful appendectomy was in 1735 when French surgeon Claudius Aymand described the presence of a perforated appendix within the hernial sac of an 11-year-old boy who had undergone successful herniotomy.

When herniotomy is combined with a reinforced repair of the posterior inguinal canal wall with autogenous (patient's own tissue) or heterogeneous material such as prolene mesh, it is termed hernioplasty as opposed to herniorrhaphy, in which no autogenous or heterogeneous material is used for reinforcement.