Dear EHS member.
Science is an important aspect within the quick (r)evolution within abdominal wall surgery. Within the last years the EHS has invested a lot of time and energy in the creation of multiple Guidelines and various scientific projects to try to guide surgeons towards an evidence based basis for their daily practice.
After the incisional hernia guidelines published in 2023 2 new guidelines will be produced in 2025, one regarding the current knowledge and evidence for the use of Botulinum toxin A in large incisional hernia repair and another regarding the treatment of hernias in an emergency setting. Furthermore the Guidelines on burst and open abdomen will be updated using a scoping review on the evidence published since the last Guidelines of 2018. We aim for presenting those 3 Guidelines at the EHS conference in 2025 in Paris.
All this work is done by a large group of enthusiastic EHS-members, both from the Board of the EHS as well as from the different wings of the secretaries. As the EHS aims to always involve more young and enthusiastic hernia surgeons, feel free to let us know your interest for such projects and maybe we invite you to participate in one of the next ones in 2025-2026. Two less frequently occurring hernia pathologies will be studied for Guideline development, one being the traumatic hernia treatment and the other being the management of perineal hernias, both rare hernias and often difficult to manage hernia types. Furthermore the Guidelines on Primary Ventral hernias will be updated after their first released in 2019.
Next to Guidelines, and in collaboration with the Secretary and wing of Education, the Science wing promotes excellent research ideas and scientific projects and the call for both the Research – and Travel grants will be opened soon. If you have an interesting idea or proposal, or you are willing to further improve your technical know-how and skills by visiting a hernia expert for a specific technique, do not hesitate to apply for those grants through the EHS website!
I wish you, on behalf of all my Science wing members a Merry Christmas, a fantastic, healthy and productive new year! See you in Paris in June 2025.
Your sincerely
Frederik Berrevoet
Secretary for Science, EHS board.
