Respiratory Pathophysiology and Giant Incisional Hernias

When confronting a massive incisional hernia, a surgeon needs to know not only the particulars of the case before him, but also the characteristics and hazards of this class of disorder. A postoperative incisional hernia cannot be understood simply as a hole in an abdominal wall in need of suturing, but rather as a condition that Jean Rives identified in 1973 as “incisional hernia disease.” The implication is that the hernia itself is but one of many manifestations of that disease.