J Korean Assoc Pediatr Surg.  2000 Dec;6(2):124-127. 10.13029/jkaps.2000.6.2.124.

The Importance of Femoral Hernia in Children

• Han SJ
• Choi BS
• Han A
• Oh JT
• Choi SH
• Hwang EH

• KMID: 2422153
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13029/jkaps.2000.6.2.124

Abstract

Femoral hernias are very uncommon in children and very easily misdiagnosed. During a period of three years, three children of femoral hernia were treated by one pediatric surgeon at Severance Hospital. Only one case was diagnosed correctly before surgery; the other two were thought to be either an indirect inguinal hernia or groin mass. Only one patient had curative hernioplasty (McVay hernioplasty) at the first operation; the other two did not have curative hernioplasty at the first operation. Femoral hernia in childhood is a challenging clinical problem because of its rarity and similar clinical presentation as indirect inguinal hernia. The frequency with which an incidental indirect inguinal hernia sac or patent processus vaginalis can be found at surgery can perpetuate a misdiagnosis. The absence of an expected indirect inguinal hernia sac or an apparent recurrence of an indirect inguinal hernia should lead to consideration of possible femoral hernia.

Keyword

Femoral Hernia; Children

MeSH Terms

Child*
Diagnostic Errors
Groin
Hernia, Femoral*
Hernia, Inguinal
Herniorrhaphy
Humans
Recurrence