Abstract
Background: Inguinal hernia is one of the most
common surgical conditions in children. Herniotomy
is the surgery performed for a pediatric hernia
and hydrocele. This study was done to know the
demography and outcome of pediatric herniotomy
at our center.
Materials and methods: A prospective study on
patients who underwent herniotomy from 10th
May 2016 to 9th May 2017 was conducted at the
Department of Surgery, Western Regional Hospital.
Results: During this study 112 patients underwent
herniotomy out of which 98 were boys while 14
were girls. 59(52.67%) patients had unilateral
hernia, 40(35.71%) had unilateral hydrocele and
13(11.6%) had bilateral condition among which 8
had hernia and 5 had hydrocele. 69(61.6%) patients
presented with a right-sided, 30(26.7%) with left-
sided, and 13(11.6%) with bilateral conditions.
13 patients (11.6%) presented at the emergency
with irreducible hernia. Two among the patient
who underwent emergency herniotomy developed
postoperative wound infection and one among the
elective surgery had recurrence.
Conclusion: Pediatric inguinal hernias and
hydroceles are often difficult to diagnose clinically.
Herniotomy is often performed by junior consultants
who have no specific training in pediatric surgery.
Timely planning of surgery is required to minimize
preoperative complications.
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