Military medicine
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Femoral hernias are of very rare occurrence at any age, but are exceedingly rare in the pediatric population. A 10-year survey, 1979-1989, of our experience with pediatric hernias produced a total of 1,134 inguinal hernias and 6 femoral hernias, supporting an incidence of 0.5% for femoral hernias in our population. The correct diagnosis was made in only two cases preoperatively. ⋯ In addition, early recurrence of a groin mass after inguinal exploration and herniorrhaphy should make one suspicious of a femoral hernia. At surgery, our recommendations include a simple infra-inguinal exploration medial to the femoral vessels when an inguinal hernia is unexpectedly not found at groin exploration and a Cooper's ligament repair when a femoral hernia is encountered. All six cases in our review were repaired with Cooper's ligament repair without complication.