A strangulated or suspected strangulated hernia always requires an operation. You will be sent into hospital. Sometimes its not always easy to make the diagnosis and X-Rays, CT scans or an ultrasound scan maybe required. Most patients will need to have antibiotics and intravenous fluids before they go for operation. Nearly all surgery for strangulated hernias is carried out via an open technique. The most important part of the operation is to relieve the strangulation. If operated on soon enough trapped bowel will recover. If it has been left too long it may already be dead. In this case the surgeon will need to remove the dead bowel and rejoin two healthy ends. Often this will involve making a much larger incision than would be required with a non-strangulated hernia. If there is infection in the tissues most surgeons would not risk use a synthetic mesh to repair the hernia as there is a very high risk of this getting infected. The repair is often done with sutures or if necessary a biological mesh. Hospital stay and recovery after emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia is usually much longer than for planned surgery for a non-strangulated hernia. Sometimes severe sepsis can result from bowel gangrene and perforation and this can have life threatening consequences.