Edoardo Bassini (1844-1924): father of modern-day hernia surgery

ACCORDING TO ROMAN scripture, it was Celsus who attempted the first inguinal hernia repair in history during the first century A.D. His attempts were unsuccessful and resulted in an early recurrence of the hernia, which eventually led to the patient's death.1 Over the next two millennia, little understanding was gained regarding the anatomy of the inguinal canal. Bassini's research ultimately resulted in the first successful inguinal hernia repair, which he performed on December 23, 1884.1 Using his newly developed clinical concepts, Bassini managed to perform 42 herniorrhaphies in 38 patients within the next 3 years and presented his findings to the Italian Society of Surgery at Genoa.3 In 1890, Bassini had expanded his case series to encompass 262 herniorrhaphies in 216 patients with a 98 per cent follow-up rate for up to 4½ years and no reported deaths among the 251 nonstrangulated repairs.