Inguinal hernia surgery performed surgery within the United States. A combined 20 million cases of both inguinal and femoral hernia repair are performed every year around the world with 800,000 cases in the US as of 2003. The UK reports around 70,000 cases performed every year. Groin hernias account for almost 75% of all abdominal wall hernias with the lifetime risk of an inguinal hernia in men and women being 27% and 3% respectively. Men account for nearly 90% of all repairs performed and have a bimodal incidence of inguinal hernias peaking at 1 year of age and again in those over the
Superior epigastric artery Superior epigastric artery In human anatomy, superior epigastric artery refers to a blood vessel that carries oxygenated blood and arises from the internal thoracic artery (referred to as the internal mammary artery in the accompanying diagram). It anastomoses with the inferior epigastric artery at the umbilicus and supplies the anterior part of the abdominal wall and some of the diaphragm. Along its course, it is accompanied by a similarly named vein, the superior epigastric vein. The superior epigastric arteries, inferior epigastric arteries, internal thoracic arteries and left subclavian artery and right subclavian artery / brachiocephalic are collateral vessels to the