Preoperative sonography of nonreducible inguinal masses in girls.
OBJECTIVE
Inguinal hernia is one of the most common surgical pathologies in childhood. Any of the abdominal organs can slide into the hernial sac and become incarcerated there. In girls, the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, and-rarely-ovarian cysts can form the sliding component of an inguinal hernia. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of preoperative sonographic examination in girls with nonreducible inguinal masses.


METHODS
Nine girls ranging in age from 2 months to 8 years who were admitted to our clinic with nonreducible inguinal masses were included in the study. All patients underwent sonographic examination followed by surgery on the day of admission.


RESULTS
A definitive diagnosis was obtained in 6 patients on preoperative sonographic evaluation, whereas 3 patients were misdiagnosed. One patient was diagnosed sonographically as having lymphadenopathy, but surgery revealed an ovarian cyst sliding into the hernial sac. A second patient was found to have an infected lymph node at surgery instead of a strangulated bowel loop as diagnosed on sonographic examination. In the third patient, the preoperative sonographic diagnosis was an ovarian cyst in the hernia sac, but surgery revealed a cyst of the canal of Nuck.


CONCLUSIONS
Inguinal masses in young girls must be carefully evaluated, because the sonographic preoperative diagnosis may be misleading.
Narci
Adnan
A
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon 03200, Turkey.
Korkmaz
Mevlit
M
Albayrak
Ramazan
R
Sözübir
Selami
S
Güvenç
Bekir Haluk
BH
Köken
Reşit
R
Demir
Tevfik
T
Doğru
Omer
O
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography