The article provides an overview of literature on the surgical treatment of postoperative ventral hernias (POVH), development trends and controversial questions of the problem. Today, according to many researchers, the frequency of POVH is up to 20-26% of the total number of external hernias of the abdomen, which give way to the primacy only to groin hernias. The recurrence rates of POVH remain high, reaching between 4.5-90% after the use of autoplasty methods and 3-19.5% after alloplasty methods. Incomplete satisfaction with the results of surgical treatment of POVH has helped to find new ways of hernioplasty using prosthetics, which allows increase the effectiveness of surgical treatment and reduces the incidence of complications. Increased intraabdominal pressure is the most common etiological factor in the development of purulent-inflammatory complications, leads to relapse, and increases the numbers of fatalities among patients with large POVH. The great interests among abdominal surgeons are issues of improving the quality of hernioplasty using prosthetic materials and methods of prevention of development inflammatory complications in the area of surgical wound. Keywords: Postoperative ventral hernia, hernioplasty, laparotomy, purulent complications.