title: Undescended testis accompanying congenital Spigelian hernia: is it a reason, a result, or a new syndrome?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Frequent reporting of cases of the coexistence of a Spigelian hernia (SH) with an undescended testis (UT) suggests that this phenomenon may be a syndrome. In this article, four pediatric cases in which an UT accompanies a congenital SH have been discussed in light of the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, four cases aged between 6 months and 5 years who had a SH accompanied by an UT were evaluated and underwent surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patient's ages were 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years old. The testis was observed in the opened hernia sac. The patients did not have a gubernaculum or an inguinal canal on the side of the hernia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neither the theories suggesting that SH leads to an UT nor those suggesting that an UT leads to a SH are satisfactory. We believe that this coexistence may be the congenital Spigelian-cryptorchidism syndrome seen in boys. As in the four cases presented here, elements of this syndrome are defects in the Spigelian fascia and the hernia sac enveloping the testis and an absence of the gubernaculum and the inguinal canal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey. salbilici@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Salim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bilici
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Güneş
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Göksu
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melek
authors.forename: Necip
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pirinçci
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D005205:Fascia / Q000002:abnormalities; D006555:Hernia, Ventral / Q000150:complications* / Q000151:congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007264:Inguinal Canal / Q000002:abnormalities; D008022:Ligaments / Q000002:abnormalities; D008297:Male; D013577:Syndrome