What’s your name?
Marcin Włodarczyk
How old are you?
37.
Where do you come from?
Poland.
How long have you been an EHS member?
5 years.
Describe a day at work as a surgeon in your country:
A typical day starts with a ward round in a busy university surgical department at the Central Clinical Hospital in Łódź. The operating list is varied: colorectal procedures, inguinal and abdominal hernia repairs, and complex abdominal wall reconstructions. Later in the day, I divide my time between outpatient consultations, teaching medical students and surgical residents, and research, including preparing manuscripts, coordinating ongoing clinical trials, and managing a Horizon Europe project on chronic wound care. I am also involved in national hernia education programmes and cadaveric workshops for surgeons across Poland.
What is your favourite AWR procedure/hernia surgery?
Laparoendoscopic inguinal hernia repair, especially TAPP in complex cases. Among ventral hernia techniques, I particularly enjoy eTEP with retromuscular mesh reinforcement, especially for subxiphoid hernias, where the anatomy is truly beautiful.
Why is it your favourite procedure?
Because it demands a precise understanding of surgical anatomy and offers tangible, long-term improvements in patients’ quality of life. TAPP in the preperitoneal plane – especially in recurrent, bilateral, or large medial hernias – keeps me focused and humble. I find eTEP similarly rewarding because it combines anatomy, strategy, and careful dissection. Seeing a patient with a painful, functionally limiting hernia return to normal activity is a satisfaction that never becomes routine.
Who inspired you to become a hernia enthusiast/surgeon?
Prof. Kryspin Mitura and Prof. Maciej Śmietański have both been important inspirations throughout my hernia journey.
Please, give a small tip or trick to share for this or any other hernia procedure?
In laparoendoscopic inguinal hernia repair, adequate mesh overlap – especially medially – is the technical detail I most often see underestimated. In complex inguinal hernias, wide medial dissection beyond the midline, with clear identification of Cooper’s ligament and the iliopubic tract, is worth the extra time. Anatomy does not forgive shortcuts. This principle applies to many hernia procedures: know the anatomy, understand why each landmark matters, and let that guide the operation.
Have you attended an EHS congress, meeting, or course?
Yes, regularly.
Which made the biggest impression on you?
The first EHS Congress I attended, in Sitges near Barcelona, made the strongest impression on me. It marked the beginning of my EHS journey.
What made it great?
The scientific quality, the openness of the community, and the breadth of educational initiatives were impressive. It sparked my curiosity and motivated me to deepen my knowledge, strengthen my research activity, and become more internationally involved in the hernia field.
How can the EHS help you in the future?
By continuing to build international connections that allow surgeons to learn from one another, improve their skills, and develop stronger research and educational projects.
What is your dream for the future of hernia surgery?
My personal dream is to help build a modern abdominal wall reconstruction community in Poland – multidisciplinary, evidence-based, and open to international collaboration. I would like the care of complex hernia patients to be planned from the outset by surgeons, imaging specialists, physiotherapists, nutritionists, and wound-care experts working together. I also hope to train younger surgeons to see AWR not as a single operation, but as a complete patient pathway. If my clinical work, research, and teaching can contribute to that change, I will feel I have added something meaningful to the future of hernia surgery.