The association of inguinal hernias and colon cancer. A technical strategy based upon three patients

Abstract

There seems to be an association between inguinal hernias and colon cancer, but to date no causal relation has been reported, despite the great number of papers evaluating the role of sigmoidoscopy and barium enema in hernia patients. The authors present three cases of elderly patients with inguinal hernia and cancer of the sigmoid colon. All patients had a long standing inguinal hernia and a clinical history suggesting colonic malignancy which was confirmed on barium enema. One patient had a sigmoid tumor incarcerated in a huge scrotal hernia. The patients were treated by tumor resection with primary anastomosis and a simultaneous hernia repair by the Stoppa technique, with pre-peritoneal polypropylene mesh. No morbidity arose from this treatment policy. We therefore conclude that the association between colon cancer and inguinal hernia is mainly coincidental, and the cancer must be suspected on a clinical basis. The use of synthetic mesh in association with colonic resection did not lead to post operative infection, allowing concomitant treatment of both diseases in elderly, high risk patients.