Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2009 Jul;13(3):169-71.

Unusual findings in inguinal hernia surgery: report of 6 rare cases

K Ballas  1 , Th Kontoulis, Ch Skouras, A Triantafyllou, N Symeonidis, Th Pavlidis, G Marakis, A Sakadamis
Affiliations
Case Reports

Unusual findings in inguinal hernia surgery: report of 6 rare cases

K Ballas et al. Hippokratia. 2009 Jul.

Abstract

Background and aim: To present our experience with unexpected findings during hernia surgery, either unusual hernial contents or pathologic entities, like neoplastic masses, masquerading as a hernia.

Patients and methods: We studied retrospectively 856 patients with inguinal hernia who were admitted to our surgical department over a 9-year period. In addition, our study included patients complaining of inguinal protrusion, even without a definitive diagnosis of inguinal hernia upon admission.

Results: Five patients presented with unusual hernial contents. Three of them had a vermiform appendix in their sac. Acute appendicitis (Amyands hernia) was found in only one case. One patient had epiploic appendagitis related with a groin hernia. Moreover, an adult woman was diagnosed with ovarian and tubal inguinal hernia. Finally, we report a case of a massive extratesticular intrascrotal lipoma, initially misdiagnosed as a scrotal hernia.

Conclusion: a hernia surgeon may encounter unexpected intraoperative findings. It is important to be prepared to detect them and apply the appropriate treatment.

Keywords: Amyand's hernia; epiploic appendagitis; inguinal mass; intrascrotal lipoma; ovarian and tubal hernia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. An inflamed appendage epiploica of the sigmoid colon, as a hernia sac content
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Ovarian and tubal inguinal hernia in an adult patient
Figure 3:
Figure 3:. Massive intrascrotal extratesticular lipoma
Figure 4:
Figure 4:. Massive intrascrotal extratesticular lipoma. The removed specimen
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rutkow IM, Robbins AW. Demographic, classificatory, and socioeconomic aspects of hernia repair in the United States. Surg Clin North Am. 1993;73:413–426. - PubMed
    1. Akopian G, Alexander M. de Garengeot Hernia: Appendicitis within a femoral hernia. Am Surg. 2005;71:526–527. - PubMed
    1. Amyand C. Of an inguinal rupture, with a pin in the appendix caeci, incrusted with stone; and some observations on wounds in the guts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1736;39:329–336.
    1. Hutchinson R. Amyands hernia. J R Soc Med. 1993;86:104–105. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Solecki R, Matyja A, Milanowski W. Amyands hernia: a report of two cases. Hernia. 2003;7:50–51. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources