Hernia in the time of COVID-19

Dear Readers,

In the latest issue of Hernia, we published a series of papers providing an extensive overview of the complex field of abdominal hernia surgery. Many of the reports published tended to validate the fundamental concept that difficult situations need to be treated as “simply” as possible. Therefore, in terms of the message we wished to convey, I am pleased to say that we achieved our objective.

In view of the huge response we received from authors, we have chosen to continue dealing with the same topic in the present issue. Indeed, the first part of this issue looks at suggestions ranging from the introduction of possible new techniques, such as extensive component separation, to the continued use of “old procedures”, such as progressive pneumoperitoneum.

In this context, examination of the problems associated with contaminated or potentially contaminated fields has, once again, highlighted the importance of considering the use of different types of prosthesis, such as the recently marketed biosynthetic prostheses.

This issue also sets out to describe the current situation as regards abdominal wall surgery in a selection of European countries, as opposed to several low-resource countries. I feel it is worth stressing that the personal experience acquired by many of us through repeated humanitarian missions in countries with low availability of resources confirms that excellent hernia surgeries can be performed even when resources are limited. Education plays a huge role in this, both the education we ourselves enjoyed, and the knowledge we are able to pass on to young surgeons in these areas.

As we work on this issue, the third of the year, we are, of course, all struggling in the face of the enormous healthcare difficulties and social tensions created by an unforeseen and unpredictable pandemic that is forcing us to reshape our daily lives. In the midst of all this, and all the difficulties we are all experiencing, I feel it is crucial that we do not lose sight of the importance of scientific activity and the production of scientific papers, which continue to be vital aspects of our professional lives.

I would like to share with you a message that I have just received from one of our most prestigious Section Editors: “What brings some pleasure in these dark times is our cooperation for the Hernia Journal. I have the strong feeling that the Journal is on a very good way. So, let us stay together and work on it…”. These words of encouragement gave me great pleasure, and should spur us all on at this time.

For this reason, I wish to announce a new forum entitled Tissue Engineering and Biomaterial Research in Hernia Repair, coordinated by Guest Editor Alexander Petter-Puchner and Co-Editors Ulrich Dietz and Neil Smart.

I warmly invite all readers of Hernia to submit original papers on this topic. These contributions, alongside invited papers written by prestigious international experts, will form an issue at the end of this year.

Unfortunately, I have to close by informing you that one of our most highly regarded Section Editors, Dr A. Gerson Greenburg, has died. His passing leaves a huge void in his area of expertise, and we remember him with warmth and admiration.