Femoral hernias: primary versus recurrence.

A primary femoral hernia, as a surgical entity, differs markedly from a recurrent femoral hernia in terms of prognosis and outcome. Whereas most primary hernias present with adequate tissues for a reliable repair, the same does not hold true for recurrences, where most immediate and adjacent tissues are scarred or destroyed. The surgeon is then faced with a situation where the necessary structures for a successful repair (ligaments of Poupart, Henle, Gimbernat and Cooper) are relatively rigid. This rigidity precludes the approximation of those structures without tension. This study review 508 femoral herniorrhaphies on 453 patients (251 primary femoral repairs and 257 recurrent femoral hernia repairs). The recurrence rate for primary herniorrhaphies is 6.1%; for recurrent herniorrhaphies, the rate of recurrence is 22.2% on average with a range of 11.8% to 75%.