Table 1.

Possible variables to use for classifying primary and incisional abdominal wall hernias and their use in previous classifications

Variables for classification of primary or incisional abdominal wall hernias	Chevrel and Rath [3]	Korenkov et al. [4]	Schumpelick[2]	Ammaturo and Bassi [6]	Swedish registry	Dietz et al. [5]
Size of the hernia defect: surface area, length, width	Width	Width or length	Maximal size	Width	Width and length	Width and length
Size of the hernia sac
Number of hernia defects			×		×
BMI of the patient					×	×
Ratio anterior abdominal wall surface/wall defect surface				×
Ratio between the abdominal volume/the volume of the hernia sac
Primary versus incisional hernias
Recurrent hernias (number of previous repairs)	×	×	×	×	×	×
Previous mesh implantation					×
Indication for the operation causing the incisional hernia					×
Type and localisation of the incision					×
Symptoms of the hernia		×
Reducibility of the hernia		×	×		×
Localisation of the hernia	×	×	×	×	×	×
The anatomy of the patient in the subcostal area: sternocostal angle						×
Other risk factors for hernia recurrence						×