in accordance with embodiments of the present invention the patch prosthesis is indicated generally by numeral 10 and is seen to include a removable outer wire frame 12 comprising a wire formed from a shape metal alloy possibly a nickel titanium alloy comprising 49 51 atomic percent nickel and the remainder titanium such an alloy is commonly referred to as nitinol u2122 by proper adjustment of the relative concentration of nickel in the alloy wire frame 12 can be made to exhibit a transition temperature between the austenite form and the martensite form at about 37 u00b0 c corresponding to body temperature wire frame 12 is shown as comprising a closed loop which is generally oval in shape supported within wire frame 12 is a prosthetic fabric 14 possibly woven strands of polypropylene plastic expanded ptfe polytetrafluoroethylene polyester or a suitable biomaterial as such patch prosthesis 10 may be steam sterilized sewn to prosthetic fabric 14 and wire frame 12 is a removable stitch 16 which temporarily secures prosthetic fabric 14 to wire frame 12 the operation of removable stitch 16 is discussed in greater detail below with reference to fig2 a process diagram for the deployment of a hernia repair patch in an embodiment of the present invention is shown when wire frame 12 is cooled below the transformation state of the shape memory alloy so it is in its martensite form patch prosthesis 10 can be helically wrapped or folded to form a somewhat cylindrical structure as illustrated in fig3 and 4 at state 102 this allows patch prosthesis 10 to be introduced into the abdominal cavity.