Observations on Inguinal Hernia, Its Treatment and Operative Technique

siderable variety of procedures, aimed at socalled repair of the inguinal canal, has been described. This insistence on adequate surgical repair of the region implies that the risk of recurrence is always with us. Despite this implication, it is curious to find that cases of inguinal hernia are frequently relegated to the end of the surgical list for unsupervised operation by a junior house-surgeon. In these circumstances, operative treatment is apt to become a matter of determination rather than of skill, and to result in a large recurrence rate. Statistics collected from groups of public hospitals have been collected from time to time to show a recurrence rate which compares most unfavourably with that of individual surgeons especially interested in the subject. For example, Max Page (quoted by Keynes), during