Bob Bloemendaal MD PhD
Colorectal and General Surgeon
Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis Delft
The Netherlands
President Dutch Hernia Society
Advisory Board member European Hernia Society
Thursday, 22 October 2026
8:30 – 9:00
Registration
9:15 – 10:15
Session 1 – Challenging Cases
Frederik Berrevoet
Fernando Ferreira
Interparietal hernias – Sandra Widjaja Kaufmann (Switzerland)
Infraxyphoidal hernias – Hector Valenzuela (Mexico)
The 2nd recurrence – Walter Brunner (Switzerland)
10:15 – 11:15
Session 2 – Swiss Young Surgeons Session
Joëlle Hartmann-Zingg
Manuela Oberlechner
Suture repairs in inguinal hernias – when and how? – Andreas Koch (Germany)
IPOM – not dead yet? – Uli Dietz (Switzerland)
Open ventral hernia repairs in the area of MIS – David Chen (USA)
11:15 – 11:45
Coffee break
11:45 – 12:45
Session 3 – New kids on the block
Jan Kukleta
Lukas Gantner
Semitendinosus Tendon as hernia mesh – Fabian Helfritz (Germany)
Modifications of TAR: Madrid approach and more –Bob Bloemendaal (Netherlands)
Mesh Suture – Greg Dumanian (USA)
12:45 – 13:15
Lunch break
13:15 – 14:00
Lunch Symposium
tba
14:00 – 15:00
Grand Round – Taking care of ourselves
Moderation: Henry Hoffmann
Podium: Lana Fourie (Switzerland), Guido Woeste (Germany), Frederik Berrevoet (Belgium), Ileana Geogloman (UK)
Input talk – Burnout plus physical wear and tear, a surgical pandemic? – David Sanders (UK)
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee Break
16:00 – 16:30
What I’ve always wanted to ask…
Philipp Kirchhoff
Questions to David Chen and Jan Kukleta
16:30 – 17:30
Session 5 – When the shit hits the fan
Guido Woeste
Marc-Olivier Sauvain
Case 1 – Marta Wójcik (Poland)
Case 2 – Jonathan Douissard (Switzerland)
Case 3 – David Ross (UK)
19:00
Networking Event
Friday, 23 October 2026
8:30 – 9:00
Registration
9:00 – 10:30
Deferred Life Surgery
Walter Brunner
Bob Bloemendaal
Single Port Robotic Hernia Repair – Lana Fourie (Switzerland)
PeTEP – Hector Valenzuela (Mexico)
Inguinal mesh removal and neurectomy – David Chen (USA)
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:00
Session 6 – Specialization and Quality in Hernia Surgery
Sandra Widjaja Kaufmann
Uli Dietz
The UEMS Abdominal Wall Surgery – Frederik Berrevoet (Belgium)
The more the better? Caseload and quality in hernia surgery – Guido Woeste (Germany)
Where is robotics adding quality in hernia surgery? – Lukas Gantner (Switzerland)
12:00 – 12:15
12:15 – 12:45
Lunch break
12:45 – 13:15
Lunch Symposium
13:15 – 14:15
Session 7 – The conundrum of diastasis recti
Hector Valenzuela
tba
The role of physiotherapy – Katarina Woxnerud (Sweden)
Surgery – when and how? – Fernando Ferreira (Portugal)
How to address the body image – David Ross (UK)
15:00 – 16:00
Championsleague
Philipp Kirchhoff
Team Switzerland: Jan Kukleta, Lana Fourie
Team Europe: Bob Bloemendaal, Guido Woeste
Team Overseas: Hector Valenzuela, David Chen
Case 1 – Johannes Toti (Switzerland)
Case 2 – Moritz Sparn (Switzerland)
Case 3 – Lisa-Marie Schupp (Switzerland)
16:00 – 17:00
Session 8 – Future of hernia surgery
Andreas Koch
Fabian Helfritz
Deep learning and AI in surgery – David Sanders (UK)
Teaching the next generation – Ileana Geogloman (UK)
Nice to meet you! Gen Z and Millenial values in surgery – Jonathan Douissard (Switzerland)
17:00
Farewell and Announcement winner «Industry Rally»
There are many sponsorship opportunities by which companies can support the 8TH SWISS HERNIA DAYS. The sponsors may compile their individual sponsorship packages in order to reach the requested sponsorship level. However, sponsorship is not restricted to major packages; companies may also take up sponsorship of one of the individual sponsorship items. Get in touch with us to receive more information.
Swiss Hernia Days are compliant to MedTech Europe Code of ethical business practice
SWISS HERNIA DAYS
c/o minyoubis AG
Laufenstrasse 39
CH-4053 Basel
swissherniadays@minyoubis.com
www.minyoubis.com
Thursday, 23 October 2025
9:15 – 10:15
Session 1 – Swiss Young Surgeons Session
Johanna Willburger
Manuela Oberlechner
Do’s and dont’s in ventral hernia repair
Eva Deerenberg (Netherlands)
Preventing complications in inguinal hernia repair
Dietmar Eucker (Switzerland)
Becoming an abdominal wall surgeon
Davide Lomanto (Singapore)
10:15 – 11:15
Session 2 – The female hernia
Eva Deerenberg
Iliana Geogloman
Same but different: female hernias
Vedra Augenstein (USA)
How to treat female ventral hernias in child-bearing age
Sandra Widjaja Kaufmann (Switzerland)
Inguinal varicosis, Nuck cyst and intraoperative round ligament management
Saskia Urbani (Germany)
11:45 – 12:45
Session 3 – Important UpDates
Yuri Novitsky
Alexis Theodorou
Best three hernia papers in 2025: my choice
Walter Brunner (Switzerland)
Mesh technology: where are we 2025
Uli Dietz (Switzerland)
UpDate reimbursement system for hernia surgery in Switzerland
Marc-Oliver Sauvaign (Switzerland)
13:15 – 14:00
Lunch Symposium — Extraperitoneale Netzeinlage ohne Mikroplastik
Henry Hoffmann (CH)
Diastatic rectus with PhasixTM Mesh – Sandra Widjaja-Kaufmann (Switzerland)
Prevention – Nicole Koter (Austria)
Effects of microplastics on the human body – Tina Bürki-Thurnherr (Switzerland)
14:00 – 15:00
Session 4 – Grand Round – Diastasis recti
Henry Hoffmann
Philipp Kirchhoff
Podium: Jan Kukleta (Switzerland), Anders Olson (Sweden), Vedra Augenstein (USA), Eva Deerenberg (Netherlands), Gernot Köhler (Austria)
Input Talk – Treatment concepts of diastasis recti
Anders Olson (Sweden)
15:30 – 16:30
Session 5 – Words of caution
Davide Lomanto
Jonathan Douissard
Disasters from component separation
Todd Heniford (USA)
Risk of hernia overtreatment in the area of robotic surgery
Frederik Helgstrand (Denmark)
I learned it from YouTube
Knut Borch (Norway)
16:30 – 17:30
Session 6 – When the shit hits the fan
Björn Mück
Jan Kukleta
Case 1 – Jonathan Douissard (Switzerland)
Case 2 – Gernot Köhler (Austria)
Case 3 – Alexis Theodorou (Greece)