Difference between herniorraphy and hernioplasty for hernia repair

Today one of the PG trainee of our General Surgery team was telling the assistant professor about the procedure he performed on some specific patient who needed hernial repair.

While doing that, he mixed the terms herniorrhaphy and hernioplasty! The asst. professor asked him to explain herniorraphy vs hernioplasty, he got confused! What an embarrassment!

Anyway to save all of us from this situation in future, lets see what’s the difference between herniorraphy and hernioplasty.

Difference between herniorrhaphy and hernioplasty

Well I won’t be going into the details of herniorrhaphy or hernioplasty here though but will simply like to tell you the difference between the two and how to remember it.

What is meant by herniorrhaphy?

Herniorrhaphy = repairing the defect by stitching the healthy ends of tissue or muscle together.

This procedure doesn’t involve using a mesh. It’s a simple repair in the defect of the wall (abdominal wall for example) resulting in the herniation.

It’s also spelled (or misspelled) as: herniorraphy and hernioraphy.

What is meant by hernioplasty?

Hernioplasty = repairing the defect using mesh patches.

This process involves repairing the wall through which herniation is occurring, using a mesh patch.

How to remember it ? well if the original tissue is Repaired (R) then it’s hernioRrhaphy and if a mesh Patch is applied then its hernioPlasty.

Hope it will help you remember the difference between herniorrhaphy and hernioplasty!