Bilateral inguinal herniorrhaphies on infants and children.

Abstract

Indirect inguinal hernias and hydroceles of the cord or tunica vaginalis together comprise the most common pediatric surgical problems in infancy and childhood. It has been well shown by many surgeons active in the pediatric field, that the morbidity and occasional mortality of an incarcerated hernia can be prevented by a simple, elective herniorrhaphy, done as soon as the diagnosis of inguinal hernia is established. 2,5 Yet, the high frequency of an unsuspected contralateral hernia has proved to be embarrassing to the surgeon, distressing to the child, and costly to the parents. Kiesewetter 6 found that 34% of the children who had unilateral herniorrhaphies returned to the hospital for a similar procedure on the opposite side. There has been a slow but definite trend toward bilateral herniorrhaphies in infants and children. 1,6-8,10 Most authors report an unsuspected hernia or patent processus vaginalis (potential hernia) in over half of the patients