Overview of Perth Hernia Institute

Abdominal wall hernia is one of the most common surgical problem in the community, occurring in 1.7% of patients of all ages and 4% for those over 45 years old. Inguinal hernias are the most common, accounting for 75% of abdominal wall hernias, with a lifetime risk of 27% in men and 3% in women.

Introduction

There is an increasingly complex mix of abdominal wall hernias diagnosed in an increasingly diverse population group. To cater to this, there is a plethora of rapidly expanding surgical products being used in hernia surgery. Similarly, there is also a fast-evolving number of surgical techniques being employed in hernia repairs.

Even though most hernias are not life threatening, we acknowledge that they do interfere with life. We therefore will endeavour to review patients within a few weeks.

Our focus

Perth Hernia Institute considers hernia and its management as a major and specialised surgical field. Therefore, a dedicated multidisciplinary group of medical and surgical specialists will contribute to the management of the patients presenting with hernia.

This multidisciplinary group consists of:

a team of dedicated hernia surgeons
a chronic pain specialist
a nutritionist
a rehabilitation specialist
a physiotherapist.

Pre-habilitation

The care of a patient’s hernia starts in the preoperative stage. All medical co-morbidities such as diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases will be optimised to ensure optimum result of any subsequent hernia repair.

Pain is commonly a major component of hernia presentation. Therefore, appropriate patients will benefit from review by the chronic pain specialist. Appropriate patients may also benefit from referral to a physiotherapy review (‘pre-habilitation’)

Our philosophy

All operative hernia repair will be personalised to individual cases and patients, rather than a ‘one-surgery-fits-all’ principle. Our surgeons are trained and experienced in the latest surgical techniques in hernia repair. This includes the latest in minimal invasive surgery, such as extended Totally Extraperitoneal (eTEP). All major cases will be operated by two surgeons to optimise the surgical care.

We at the Perth Hernia Institute regard the post-operative recovery phase as critical in the long-term result of any hernia repair. It is extremely important that patients are rehabilitated in the appropriate steps to enable return to work and family living. We will engage rehabilitation specialists and physiotherapists to provide the necessary physical recovery post hernia repair.

Academic unit

The Perth Hernia Institute will also be run as an academic unit, as a number of the personnel are associated with UWA and teaching of medical students and junior doctors. Deidentified data will be kept and used to run a prospective audit to ensure that the results of the repair will be maintained at the highest level.