Unusual findings in inguinal hernia surgery: report of 6 rare cases.
OBJECTIVE
To present our experience with unexpected findings during hernia surgery, either unusual hernial contents or pathologic entities, like neoplastic masses, masquerading as a hernia.


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.


CONCLUSIONS
a hernia surgeon may encounter unexpected intraoperative findings. It is important to be prepared to detect them and apply the appropriate treatment.
Ballas
K
K
2nd Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippokratio General Hospital, Aristotle University Medical School, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Kontoulis
Th
T
Skouras
Ch
Ch
Triantafyllou
A
A
Symeonidis
N
N
Pavlidis
Th
T
Marakis
G
G
Sakadamis
A
A