1. Stony Brook Comprehensive Hernia Center
  2. Robotic Hernia Repair

Robotic Hernia Repair

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Hernia repairs are very common 鈥攎ore than one million hernia repairs are performed each year in the U.S.  Approximately 800,000 are to repair inguinal hernias and the rest are for other types of hernias.1

Robotic surgery is a new technique being utilized for hernia repair. Surgeons use the da Vinci庐 surgical system to perform complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with precision.   Similar to laparoscopic surgery, robotic surgery uses small incisions, a laparoscope (small camera) and small instruments to complete the hernia repair. The surgeon is seated at a console in the operating room and we're looking at a 3D picture while operating.  Robotic surgery can be used to fix inguinal (groin hernias), umbilical (belly-button) hernias, and also some larger ventral hernias as well.

Laparoscopic or Robot-Assisted Hernia Repair

Several tiny incisions are made on the abdomen.  A camera is inserted and small instruments are used to repair the hernia. Mesh is also placed if indicated.  Laparoscopic or robotic assisted hernia repair, when compared to open hernia repairs, can result in:

  • Less pain
  • Shorter hospital stays
  • Faster recoveries
  • Fewer complications

Is Robotic Surgery Right for you?

Robotic hernia surgery evolved in the 2010s, roughly 20 years after the advent of laparoscopy. The robotic platform enhances traditional laparoscopy and pushes minimally invasive surgery even further, enabling us to repair the most complex hernias through small incisions. Robotic instruments possess multiple degrees of freedom and greater articulation, allowing the surgeon to execute highly precise movements. In addition, 3D robotic visualization provides excellent depth perception and spatial awareness, helping us navigate complex tissue planes.

鈥淩obotic surgery allows us to perform both straightforward and the most complex repairs, including abdominal wall reconstruction with component separation,鈥 said Dr. , co-director of the Stony Brook Comprehensive Hernia Center and program director of the Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Fellowship. Even after the most complex robotic repairs, patients typically spend only one to two nights in the hospital, compared with three to five days after comparable open surgery. Robotic repairs also have less post-operative pain and complications1.

The learning curve for robotic repairs is longer than for open repairs, and individual surgeon volume matters a great deal, as with any other complex procedure. 鈥淚n our 2023 study of complex abdominal wall reconstruction, using the Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative (ACHQC) database, we demonstrated that high-volume surgeons maintain competitive outcomes despite operating on patients with more comorbidities and more advanced hernia disease,鈥 said Dr. Shmelev2.

Stony Brook Comprehensive Hernia Center performs nearly three-quarters of their hernia repairs using a minimally invasive approach, most of them robotic. Robotic surgery may not be possible in cases involving very extensive prior abdominal operations, including previous repairs with large prosthetic meshes, because of dense adhesions (scar tissue between the intestines and the abdominal wall).

References

  1. Capoccia Giovannini S, Vierstraete M, Frascio M, et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis on robotic assisted ventral hernia repair: the ROVER review. Hernia. 2025 Feb 18;29(1):95. doi:10.1007/s10029-025-03274-2.
  2. Shmelev A, Olsen MA, Bray JO et al. Surgeon volumes: preserving appropriate surgical outcomes in higher-risk patient populations undergoing abdominal wall reconstruction. Surg Endosc 37, 7582鈥7590 (2023). doi:10.1007/s00464-023-10286-5
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