External hernias are very common surgical diseases. The most common hernias are: inguinal, femoral, postoperative and umbilical.
External hernias – when to see a doctor?
If you have any abnormal abdominal bulge, please see your doctor. Everyone who has a hernia should remember that at any moment he is in danger of a serious complication, i.e. hernia entrapment. For this reason, surgical treatment of each hernia is most often recommended without waiting for this complication to occur.
External hernias and hernia entrapment
Hernia entrapment is a tightening of the contents of the hernial sac (usually the intestine) in the area of the hernial ring, which results in disturbances in the passage of intestinal contents and defective blood supply to the intestine and necrosis of its wall. The essence of entrapment is therefore the fact that the intestinal loop which has got inside the hernial sac cannot withdraw from it spontaneously. Imprisonment may occur:
- under the influence of a cough,
- as a result of greater physical effort,
- when lifting a heavy object, i.e. when the patient strains the so-called abdominal press.
How to recognize?
Diagnosis is usually not difficult. If there is sudden abdominal pain where the hernia was disappearing and reappearing, the hernial tumor becomes tense and cannot be drained, then it is necessary to think about entrapment. Sometimes at the same time (usually after 2-3 hours) the patient starts to feel sick, vomit, have flatulence, cannot give off gas, and later also stool. Thus, the symptoms observed in the course of acute mechanical intestinal obstruction appear, as hernial entrapment is one of the forms of intestinal obstruction. This condition is a sudden and dangerous situation for the patient, therefore surgical treatment should be performed as soon as possible.
Pre-medical procedure
Sometimes, when the patient is placed on his back with a pillow under the pelvis, with his legs tucked up, the abdominal muscles and the hernial ring relax. In addition, the hernia may drain off spontaneously. In children, this can be achieved by using a warm bath. In a situation where the contents of the hernia do not recede shortly after the entrapment, it is not worth delaying, much less trying to drain the contents of the hernia, but taking the patient as soon as possible to the hospital for the surgical ward.