Introduction and objective:
Inguinal hernia is a common congenital surgical problem in children. There are many techniques for surgical treatment. Due to the fact that so many solutions exist to the problem of inguinal hernia in children, the best choice of surgical technique for a particular patient seems crucial. In the literature, there are many studies designed to compare the results of surgical treatment. It is probable that different types of hernia can be related to different results when a particular technique is used. The laparoscopic approach gives a new perspective to classifying paediatric inguinal hernia. The review aims to summarize the classification systems used in the description of paediatric inguinal hernias.

Review methods:
The review is based on academic literature and scientific publications available in PubMed and NCBI – National Library of Medicine databases. After evaluation of abstracts, articles were selected and analyzed, considering the references cited.

Brief description of the state of knowledge. Apart from classical anatomical classifications, the review indicates promising new classifications. Shehata et al. proposed a paediatric hernia classification and tailored treatment modified from the original Nyhus classification for adults, with suggested tailored treatment for each subtype. Toki et al. proposed the ultrasonographic classification for paediatric inguinal hernia. Tanaka et al. assessed the size of the hernia orifice during laparoscopy and used the classification by the European Hernia Society (EHS) for adult patients.

Summary:
A unified paediatric inguinal hernia classification would be useful not only for pre- or intra-operative descriptions of the anatomy and size of a hernia. The unification of the classification system of a paediatric inguinal hernia could also be helpful in the study design.