title: Herniography in the diagnosis of obscure groin pain.
abstract: Obscure groin pain was investigated in 250 consecutive patients (including 171 males) with no palpable hernia or previous hernia operation. Herniography revealed nonpalpable but symptomatic hernia in 51% of the male and 21% of the female patients. Among the hernia patients with bilateral pain, 40% had unilateral hernia. Direct-type hernia was most commonly found. Of the surgically treated patients, 87% were free from groin pain postoperatively. Further clinical investigations with a broad diagnostic approach gave a treatable diagnosis in 70% of the patients without hernia surgery. Spontaneous improvement occurred during the investigation in 25%, and the cause of groin pain remained unclear in 5% of the patients. Herniography is a valuable diagnostic tool in obscure groin pain and its use is justified at an early stage of investigation. "Blind" exploration can thus be avoided.
mesh_terms: D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000175:diagnosis; D005832:Genital Diseases, Male / Q000175:diagnosis; D006119:Groin; D006550:Hernia, Femoral / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008794:Metrizoic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D011859:Radiography; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D008794:Metrizoic Acid; C021342:methylglucamine metrizoate