Prosthetic hernioplasty in elderly people: personal experience

Background Inguinal hernia is the most prevalent among the hernias that interested the abdominal wall with higher incidence in male than female, moreover it is more frequent in elderly than in younger patients. The incidence rises from 11 per 10,000 person-years aged 16-24 years to 200 per 10,000 person-years aged 65 years and above. According to the literature the safest approach to geriatric patients is to perform hernioplasty in open surgery using local anaesthesia. The elderly patient has special features, typically related to the general conditions. Local anesthesia and postoperative analgesia are sufficient to solve the problems of old age. Over the last twenty years the surgical treatment of inguinal hernias has undergone significant changes. Today, the use of prothesis is the technique most used. There are not many differences between the techniques “tension free sutures less” and “tension free sutures no less”.