12:30 – 13:00
Lunch Symposium — Medtronic
Results of more than 2000 implanted ProGrip meshes
Dieter Birk (Germany)
13:00 – 14:00
Session 7 — Clinical decision making
Ferdinand Köckerling
Ralf Wilke
Small asymptomatic contralateral inguinal hernia: operate or leave it alone?
Perparim Limani (Switzerland)
Diastasis recti: which technique?
Guillaume Passot (France)
Diagnostic pathway on chronic postoperative inguinal pain (CPIP)
Sean Orenstein (USA)
14:00 – 14:30
Best Video Award
Moderation & Jury:
Jonathan Douissard
Björn Mück
Announcement and presentation of the best videos
1st place 1000 CHF
2nd place 750 CHF
3rd place 500 CHF
14:30 – 15:00
Coffee Break
15:00 – 16:00
Championsleague
Case 1 – Henry Hoffmann (Switzerland)
Case 2 – Fiorenzo Angehrn (Switzerland)
Case 3 – Dietmar Eucker (Switzerland)
Teams
Switzerland: Walter Brunner, Jan Kukleta
Europe: Marteen Simons, Bernhard Dauser
America: Hector Valenzuela, Sean Orenstein
16:00 – 17:00
Session 8 – The Special Hernia Case
Sean Orenstein
Cesare Stabilini
Operating on a colleague
Uli Dietz (Switzerland)
Dealing with multiple recurrences
Mette Willaume (Denmark)
The untreatable hernia
Andrea Pakula (USA)
17:00
Announcement Winner «Industry Rally» and Farewell
SAHC
The Swiss Hernia Days are the official annual congress of the Swiss Association for Hernia Surgery (SAHC)
Friday, 21 September 2018
Dr. Vedra Augenstein, MD
Atrium Health General & Complex Abdominal Surgery, Charlotte (USA)
Executive Board Member American Hernia Society (AHS)
Dr. med. Walter Brunner
Senior physician, Department of Surgery, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons FRCS
Honorary Fellow of the European Board of Surgeons FEBS (Minimal Invasive Surgery; Abdominal Wall Surgery)
Executive Board Member SAHC
Dr. Eva B. Deerenberg
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dietz
Head of Surgical Department, Cantonal Hospital Olten (Switzerland)
Executive Board Member of Swiss-MIS (Swiss Minimally Invasive Surgery)
Executive Board Member of SAHC (Swiss Association of Hernia Surgery)
Dr. Jonathan Douissard
Senior clinical fellow in intestinal failure and abdominal reconstructive surgery
Lennard Jones Intestinal Failure Unit, St. Mark’s Hospital, London, UK
Abdominal Surgery Division, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, CH
Dr Ileana Geogloman
MD, FRCS-EQ, AFAHE
Affiliate lecturer at Cambridge University
ASGBI (Association of Surgeons from Great Britain and Ireland) Regional Representative for East of England)
Chair for Equality and Diversity in the American Hernia Society
Member and Mentor in the Rising Star Academy for EAES ( European Association of Endoscopic Surgery)
Frederik Helgstrand
MD, DMSc. Ass. prof. FACS
Head of upper GI surgery and AWR
President Danish Hernia Database
Zealand University Hospital, Køge
Dr Todd Heniford, MD, FACS
Professor and Director
Endeavor Hernia Center
Chicago, Illinois (USA)
Dr Lucy Hinton
PD Dr. Henry Hoffmann
ZweiChirurgen GmbH,
Merian Iselin Klinik, Basel (Switzerland)
Executive Board Member of SAHS (Swiss Association of Hernia Surgery)
Prof. Dr. Philipp Kirchhoff
ZweiChirurgen GmbH,
Merian Iselin Klinik, Basel (Switzerland)
Board member of SAHC (Swiss Association of Hernia Surgery)
Executive Board Member of Swiss-MIS (Swiss Minimally Invasive Surgery)
Dr. Jan F. Kukleta
President of the Swiss Working Group in Hernia Surgery (SAHC),
Senior Surgical Consultant Hirslanden Clinic, Zurich (Switzerland)
Prof Davide Lomanto
Senior Consultant, Department of Surgery, Alexandra Hospital
Yuri Novitzky
Dr. Anders Olsson
PD Dr. Marc-Olivier Sauvain
Médecin chef de service
Chargé de cours UNIL
Spécialiste FMH en chirurgie et chirurgie viscérale
Réseau hospitalier neuchâtelois
Speakers and Live-Surgeons
Speakers and Live-Surgeons for the 2nd SWISS HERNIA DAYS will be available soon
Thursday, 23 October 2025
8:00 – 8:30
Registration
8:30– 8:45
Welcome
8:45– 9:45
Hernia Prevention
Ulrich Dietz (Würzburg, GER),
Lars N. Jorgensen (Copenhagen, DK)
„Herniosis“, does it exist?
Uwe Klinge (Aachen, Germany)
Essentials of abdominal wall closure
René Fortelny (Vienna, Austria)
Prophylactic mesh placement: When and how?
Philipp Kirchhoff (Basel, Switzerland)
9:45– 10:45
Ventral Hernias
Wolfgang Reinpold (Hamburg, GER)
Agneta Montgomery (Lund, Sweden)
Making TEP better: extended TEP for ventral hernias
Jorge Daes (Barranquilla, Colombia)
Controversial: Lap. IPOM vs. Open Sublay in uncomplicated ventral hernias
Walter Brunner (Rorschach, Switzerland) and
Jürg Metzger (Lucerne, Switzerland)
10:45 – 11:15
Coffee break in the Industrial Exhibition
11:15 – 12:15
Complex Ventral Hernias
Jan F. Kukleta (Zurich, SUI)
Salvador Morales-Conde (Sevilla, Spain)
Complex ventral hernias: Do we need a classification?
Ulrich Dietz (Würzburg, Germany)
Essentials of component separation techniques
Lars N. Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark)
The challenge: Diagnosis and treatment in hernias with loss of domain
Tomas R. Ibarra HurtadoIbara (Guadalajara, Mexico)
12:15 – 13:15
Lunch break in the Industrial Exhibition
12:35 – 13:05
Industry Symposium
Henry Hoffmann (Basel, Switzerland)
Next generation mesh implants: a novel approach with Phasix technology
Walter Brunner (Rorschach, Switzerland)
Thomas Auer (Graz, Austria)
13:15 – 14:15
Inguinal Hernia
Franz Mayer (Salzburg, AUT)
Marc Miserez (Leuven, BEL)
Controversial: open techniques vs. TEP / TAPP
Ralph Lorenz (Berlin, Germany)
& Jan F. Kukleta (Zurich, Switzerland)
The role of mesh-free techniques
Andreas Koch (Cottbus, Germany)
14:15 – 15:15
Chronic Postoperative Groin Pain
Ralph Lorenz (Berlin, GER)
Filip Muysoms (Gent, BEL)
Prevention of chronic postoperative pain
Giampiero Campanelli (Milano, Italy)
Conservative management of chronic postoperative pain
Kuno Lehmann (Zurich, Switzerland)
Operative management of chronic postoperative pain
David Chen (Los Angeles, USA)
15:15 – 15:45
Coffee break in the Industrial Exhibition
15:45– 16:45
Mesh Technology
Uwe Klinge (Aachen, GER),
Joachim Conze (Munich, GER)
Biologic meshes: The end of an era?
Ulrich Dietz (Würzburg, Germany)
LTA meshes: The new kid on the block!
Henry Hoffmann (Basel, Switzerland)
Old but gold: Permanent meshes
Bernd Stechemesser (Cologne, Germany)