Baby With Inguinal Hernia

 Hernia is a protrusion of abdominal content e.g. intestinal loops, under the skin. Normally; abdominal organs, like intestinal loops, lie behind abdominal wall muscles. When some of these organs protrude through a defect in these  muscles and become palpable under the skin, this is called hernia.

Some babies are born with inguinal hernia, although it might not appear until baby reaches several months of age. At beginning this hernia disappears when the child lies supine on his back, but it protrudes when he cries or be held in erect position. This phenomenon is called reducibility. It can be elicited also by gentle pressure on the hernia.

This disease carries a degree of danger on baby's life; because in many diseased babies the hernia becomes irreducible i.e. it cannot be pushed into the abdomen. The intestine becomes entrapped inside hernia and its blood circulation ceases. After few hours, the intestine ferments and produces harmful toxins while the baby becomes starved and dehydrated due to obstruction of intestinal lumen.

Many of infantile hernias are associated with other problems; like undescended testis and hydrocele.

What to do

This hernia must be treated surgically as soon as possible because the danger of irreducibility is high. Before surgery, the baby must be examined for other anomalies i.e. abnormal organ formation. The hernia and testis must be examined by an ultrasound device to diagnose the exact consistency of the hernia and its content. It also determines the presence or absence of hydrocele.

During surgery the surgeon reduces the intestine into the abdomen and removes the peritoneal protrusion then closes the remaining opening by a suture then he closes the skin.

After that the baby lives normally unless he had other anomalies.