Hippokratia 2009, 13(3):169-171
K. Ballas, Th. Kontoulis, Ch. Skouras, A. Triantafyllou, N. Symeonidis, Th Pavlidis, G. Marakis, A. Sakadamis
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 (Amyand?s 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.