The Role of Releasing Incisions in Emergency Inguinal Hernia Repair.

The majority of inguinal hernia repairs worldwide are performed on an outpatient basis. However, incarceration and concern for strangulation of abdominal contents necessitates emergent repair in order to address visceral ischemia. In the setting of salvageable ischemia, this necessitates release of strangulation of blood supply by the hernia defect and reduction of visceral contents into the abdominal cavity. In certain cases, this cannot be achieved with simple manual reduction, and requires enlargement of the aperture of the hernia defect with releasing incisions in order to allow reduction. We aim to describe strategies for releasing incisions via open, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches in emergency inguinal hernia repair.