Proven Results
It is the achievement of exceptional results, coupled with its position at the forefront of the study of hernia repair that enables The British Hernia Centre to be considered a true 'Centre of Excellence' in the field.
Studies show that the majority of British Hernia Centre patients engaged in desk-work are back to normal routine in a week or less and a majority of manual workers are back in two weeks or less.

Comparing Results
If we compare the results achieved at The British Hernia Centre
with those reported elsewhere, the improvements prove to be very significant

This figure shows the time taken
to return to work (or normal routine)
as published in sixteen different reports,
compared with the results at
The British Hernia Centre

It is clear that other results demonstrate a far longer recovery time than those realised at
The British Hernia Centre
even including heavy / manual workers.

The results for
The British Hernia Centre
are, from left to right, for

Manual Labourers

Desk Work

Retired Routine

Keyhole Surgery Comparison

A great deal has been written and said about laparoscopic (or 'Keyhole') surgery
for hernia repair.
The method is described earlier in this text.
One of the problems associated with any new technique is that
it takes many cases, over a long period of time to be able
to establish whether it has a place in hernia surgery.
However, the case against using it is significant.

Regardless of recovery time, the problems relating to successful performance
of abdominal wall hernia repair by laparoscopy are serious.

This table is a comparison of areas of exposure to risk and other problems in most hernia cases.

Problem	Keyhole Surgery	The British Hernia Centre's Preferred Approach
Return to normal routine	Fast	Fast
Complications from General Anaesthesia	RISK	Zero Risk
Technical Difficulty for Surgeon	High	Low
Risk to nearby internal organs of accidental perforation	High	Negligible
Cost	High	Low
Recommended by Hernia Specialists	No	Yes
Recommended by National Institute for Clinical Excellence	Ambivalent	Yes
Ambulatory ('get up and walk away' after the surgery)	No	Yes
Suitable for the elderly and patients with other medical conditions	No	Yes

There are few published papers reporting on the long-term results of any significant numbers of cases. Even though the post-operative recovery time is noticeably better than with the old 'tension-stitching' methods, even these results do not exceed the overall speed of recovery achieved at
The British Hernia Centre.

As good as the results are for 'the 'Keyhole' patients, they are clearly exceeded by the results achieved at
The British Hernia Centre and without the risks.

The 'Keyhole' repair requires general / spinal anaesthetic, our technique requires local anaesthetic. Also, the risks associated with operating whilst watching a 2 dimensional TV screen do not compare with the 'fingertip' control of the British Hernia Centre's technique.

The view favouring the described technique over keyhole surgery is supported in reports published by both the Royal College of Surgeons and The National Institute for Clinical Excellence as well as The British Hernia Centre

~ Recent Academic Publications ~

Academic Publications and Letters by The British Hernia Centre

		For a synopsis and Publisher information
"OPEN PREPERITONEAL MESH REPAIR FOR RECURRENT INGUINAL HERNIAS"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - "The World Journal of Hernia and Abdominal Wall Surgery" 2005	Link under construction
"INGUINAL HERNIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - "Recent Advances in Surgery" 2004	Link under construction
"TENSION-FREE MESH REPAIR OF UMBILICAL HERNIA AS A DAY CASE USING LOCAL ANAESTHESIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - "The World Journal of Hernia and Abdominal Wall Surgery" 2004
"THE LICHTENSTEIN REPAIR" - in "GROIN HERNIA SURGERY - SURGICAL CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA"	Textbook chapter by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Updated October 2003
"PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF OPEN PREPERITONEAL MESH REPAIR FOR RECURRENT INGUINAL HERNIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The British Journal of Surgery 2002
AMBULATORY HERNIA SURGERY - in "ABDOMINAL WALL HERNIAS - PRINCIPLES AND MANAGEMENT"	Textbook chapter by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - 2001
MODIFIED SHOULDICE AND LAPAROSCOPIC - Vs - OPEN MESH REPAIR	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The British Journal of Surgery 1999	Link under construction
"3,175 PRIMARY INGUINAL HERNIA REPAIRS - ADVANTAGES OF OPEN MESH USING LOCAL ANAESTHESIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Journal of The American College of Surgeons 1998
"RANDOMISED TRIAL OF LAPAROSCOPIC -vs- OPEN MESH REPAIR	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - British Medical Journal 1998	Link under construction
GIANT SCROTAL HERNIAS	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 1998	Link under construction
SURGICAL MANAGEMENT OF ABDOMINAL WALL HERNIAS" - (Surgical textbook)	Edited by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre with GE Wantz (Cornell Med Ctr, NY. USA) - 1999
"THE LICHTENSTEIN REPAIR" - in "GROIN HERNIA SURGERY - SURGICAL CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA"	Textbook chapter by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - December 1998
"RECURRENT INGUINAL HERNIA: ANTERIOR APPROACH" - in "SURGICAL MANAGEMENT OF ABDOMINAL WALL HERNIAS"	Textbook chapter by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - December 1998
"PROSTHETIC MESH REPAIR USING LOCAL ANAESTHESIA" - in "SURGICAL MANAGEMENT OF ABDOMINAL WALL HERNIAS"	Textbook chapter by Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - December 1998
"HERNIA REPAIRS AND LOCAL ANAESTHESIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Irish College of Physicians and Surgeons 1997	Link under construction
"HERNIA REPAIRS IN A SPECIALIST UNIT"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Journal of One-Day Surgery 1996	Link under construction
"LONG TERM RESULTS of GPR of VISCERAL SAC for COMPLEX RECURRENT INGUINAL HERNIAS"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The British Journal of Surgery 1996	Link under construction
TENSION-FREE MESH HERNIA REPAIR"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons England 1995
PROSPECTIVE TRIAL COMPARING LICHTENSTEIN WITH LAPAROSCOPIC TENSION-FREE MESH REPAIR OF INGUINAL HERNIA"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The British Journal of Surgery 1995	Link under construction
"ACCURACY of CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS of Direct and INDIRECT INGUINAL HERNIAS"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The British Journal of Surgery 1994	Link under construction
"LAPAROSCOPIC HERNIA REPAIR"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - The Lancet 1994	Link under construction
"ORGANISING HERNIA CENTRES"	Surgeons of The British Hernia Centre - Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons 1993	Link under construction

Academic Presentations and Lectures by The British Hernia Centre :

1 "Bilateral Groin Hernia Repair"

2 "Open Mesh Repair of Incisional Hernia - Results and Long-Term Follow-Up"

International Hernia Conference under the auspices of The American Hernia Society and The European Hernia Society. London UK, June 2003

" Mesh Repair of Incisional Hernias"

Workshop on Use of Mesh in Incisional Hernia Repair - Conference, Hamburg, Germany 2003

"The Model of a Specialised Surgical Centre"

Conference "Waiting For Surgery" The Royal College of Surgeons, London, October 2002

Under the auspices of The Royal College of Surgeons of England

"Tension-Free Umbilical Hernia Repair - A New Technique"

International Hernia Conference (European Hernia Society) Amsterdam, Holland, June 2002

"Pre-Peritoneal Mesh Repair of Recurrent Inguinal Hernia, Long-Term Follow-Up "

International Hernia Conference "Hernia in the 21st Century" Toronto, Canada, June 2000

Under the auspices of The American Hernia Society and The European Hernia Society

"Experience with Mesh Repair"

Workshop on Development of Mesh - Conference, Hamburg, Germany 1999

"Avoidance of Infection in Groin Hernia Repair"

Soc. of Healthcare Epidemiology of America - Conference, Florida 1998

"Anatomy of the Inguinal Region"

Portuguese Surgical Symposium, Lisbon 1997

"Local Anaesthetic Mesh Repair of Groin Hernias"

Portuguese Surgical Symposium, Lisbon 1997

"4,300 Non-tension Mesh Repair of Inguinal Hernias under Local Anaesthetic"

International Hernia Conference Naples 1997

"Recurrent Hernias"

International Hernia Conference London 1996

"Non-tension Mesh Repair of Hernias: The case for special units"

International Hernia Conference, London 1996

"Organising Day Units"

Royal College of Surgeons Conference 1994

"Hernia Repair in a Day Unit Under Local Anaesthesia"

General Practitioner Course, London 1994

Other Academic Sources:

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence: Guidance on the Use of Laparoscopic Surgery for Inguinal Hernia 2001 & TA83 (September 2004)
The Royal College of Surgeons of England: Report of a Working Party: Clinical Guidelines on the Management of Groin Hernias in Adults 1993
Bourke, Lear & Taylor 1978
Semmence, et al 1980
Bourke & Taylor 1981
Taylor & Dewar 1983
Serpell, et al 1990
Robertson, et al 1993
Stock 1993
Stoker, et al 1994

Consultant Surgeon, Mr AE Kark,
addressing the International Conference
on Abdominal Wall Hernia at the
Royal Society of Medicine, London
(Hosted by The British Hernia Centre).

The Last Word...

If you have a hernia, you cannot ignore it.
However simple or however complex the case, it may be very worthwhile to go to the people who

* SPECIALISE in hernia
* Have EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE in hernia
* Perform TENS of THOUSANDS of cases
* Have a PROVEN TRACK-RECORD of excellent results

A COMPLETELY FREE SERVICE If you are interested in the modern, specialised approach to hernia surgery and would like us to advise what we can do in your own case, wherever you may live in the world, we have devised a simple interactive routine to establish what you need
This is a short routine whereby you can see for yourself how we would go about your case. (This is particularly useful for the less complicated cases) If you would like to see that work, select that option here	Click here to SEE FOR YOURSELF
If yours is more complex, or you would like a personal opinion, you can tell us what we need to know on a 'form' you will be able to access, then click the SUBMIT button. We will then e-mail our opinion back to you as soon as possible.

CONTACT INFORMATION

STILL got questions???
You can email us (see the box below) but you should also take a look at the page of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) in case it has been covered there.

Click here
for FAQs

We are happy to try and answer general questions related to any hernia matter where possible Click here to E-Mail us (experts@hernia.org) with any questions or comments on this WWW site information. Do, PLEASE, tell us in which town and country you live. *It matters!* Please do NOT rely upon E-Mail for urgent enquiries. Due to an almost overwhelming number of e-mails we are dealing with daily, it may take us a little time to get back to you, but we will be as fast as we can. However, you may contact us, if you wish, by fax on +44 20 8202 6714.

We are happy to try and answer general questions related
to any hernia matter where possible

Click here to E-Mail us (experts@hernia.org) with
any questions or comments on this WWW site information.
Do, PLEASE, tell us in which town and country you live.
It matters!

Please do NOT rely upon E-Mail for urgent enquiries.
Due to an almost overwhelming number of e-mails
we are dealing with daily, it may take us a little time
to get back to you, but we will be as fast as we can.
However, you may contact us, if you wish, by fax on
+44 20 8202 6714.

If you have something you need to discuss person-to-person, for callers in the * USA (Continental), * Alaska, * Hawaii and * (English-speaking) Canada call the toll-free *HERNIA HELPLINE* on 1-888 A HERNIA (1-888 243 7642) To allow for the time difference, if you call before noon (Eastern Time) on weekdays, you will be able to obtain the answers to any questions and discuss specific details with us directly The direct line for the center from North America is Tel: 011 44 20 8201 7000 Fax: 011 44 20 8202 6714 From all other countries, call + 44 20 8201 7000
(O20-8201 7000 in the UK)

If you have something you need to discuss person-to-person,
for callers in the * USA (Continental), * Alaska, * Hawaii
and * (English-speaking) Canada
call the toll-free
HERNIA HELPLINE
on
1-888 A HERNIA
(1-888 243 7642)

To allow for the time difference,
if you call before noon (Eastern Time) on weekdays,
you will be able to obtain the answers to any
questions and discuss specific details with us directly
The direct line for the center from North America is
Tel: 011 44 20 8201 7000
Fax: 011 44 20 8202 6714
From all other countries, call
+ 44 20 8201 7000

(O20-8201 7000 in the UK)

FOR ALL ENQUIRIES CONTACT:
The British Hernia Centre
87 Watford Way, Hendon, London, NW4 4RS, England

Click here for address and location information

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