PHRENICECTOMY AS AID TO REPAIR OF LARGE ABDOMINAL HERNIAS

Abstract

During the repair of certain hernias, considerable difficulty may be encountered in replacing the contents of the sac into the abdomen. This is especially apt to be the case when the hernia is very large and of long duration for, under such circumstances, the abdominal cavity may be too small to readily accommodate the viscera that have been displaced from it. In the case of interstitial, inguino-scrotal-abdominal hernia about to be described, the aforementioned difficulty was overcome by performing a phrenicectomy several days prior to hernioplasty. Inasmuch as I was unable to find any report of similar surgical management of a large inguinal hernia, the case appears worthy of recording. REPORT OF A CASE A 60-year-old man first consulted me on May 13, 1953, because of a large, slowly developing right-sided abdominal mass of 30 years' duration. The diagnosis of congenital right inguinal hernia had been made shortly after birth.