STUDIES ON 30 CASES OF FEMORAL HERNIA

Abstract

A series of 30 cases of femoral hernia which were operated on at the hospital in a recent 12-year period were clinically studied. There were 28 women and two men with a mean age of 73.2 years old. Swelling of the inguinal portion was the most common complain seen in 23 patients, followed by symptom of ileus in four patients and another symptoms in three patients. There were 18 patients with right femoral hernia, 10 patients with left femoral herunia and two patients with bilateral femoral hernia. All cases were diagnosed by physical examination. The diagnosis was made by palpation of the inguinal portion in the three patients with another symptoms and in the lateral lesion of two patients with bilateral femoral hernia. Incarceration occured in five patients (16.7%) who underwent an emergency operations. Of these five patients, two patients demanded resection of the intestine because of necrosis of the small intestine. Post operative complication occured in one out of the two resected patients whose wound healing delayed. Mean postoperative hospital stay in the incarcerated cases was longer than that in the non-incarcerated cases. We should make efforts to prevent the patients who are often elderly women from incarcerating of the hernia by careful routine medical examinations.