{"id":24820,"date":"2025-07-23T11:22:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/?page_id=24820"},"modified":"2025-07-25T13:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:20:21","slug":"inguinal-hernia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/paediatrics\/paediatricsurgery\/inguinal-hernia\/","title":{"rendered":"Inguinal Hernia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Inguinal hernia is common in children, presenting as an intermittent groin swelling. It is much more common in boys but approximately 10% occur in girls. In children, inguinal hernia is due to persistence of a widely patent processus vaginalis and it is very unusual for there to be associated muscular or fascial weakness. Surgery is therefore normally a simple herniotomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this is the same underlying pathology as a hydrocele, hernias do not resolve in the same way and so a child in whom an inguinal hernia is suspected should be referred at initial diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An inguinal hernia can become irreducible or incarcerated. The age group most a risk would be infants below 3 months of age. For this reason we would suggest that a suspected inguinal hernia in this age group is referred urgently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>J.B. &amp; F.M.\/L.S. Sept 22<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Referral Guidelines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Who to refer:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any child with a suspected inguinal hernia<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An infant under 3 months of age should be referred urgently<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any child with an irreducible hernia should be referred as an emergency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to refer:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Refer via SCI gateway for an out patient or via RHCYP switchboard for an emergency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Referral priority<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An infant under 3 months of age will be triaged as urgent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Older children will be triaged as routine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An irreducible hernia should be referred as an emergency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Surgical priority<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Herniotomy in older children is a routine procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Herniotomy in an infant under 3 months is an urgent procedure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Primary Care Management<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Resources and Links<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inguinal hernia is common in children, presenting as an intermittent groin swelling. It is much more common in boys but approximately 10% occur in girls. In children, inguinal hernia is due to persistence of a widely patent processus vaginalis and it is very unusual for there to be associated muscular or fascial weakness. Surgery is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":4270,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288],"class_list":["post-24820","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-https-apps-nhslothian-scot-refhelp-inguinal-hernia"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"heatherlevy","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/heatherlevy\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/category\/paediatric\/paediatricsurgery\/https-apps-nhslothian-scot-refhelp-inguinal-hernia\/\" rel=\"tag\">Inguinal Hernia<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Inguinal hernia is common in children, presenting as an intermittent groin swelling. It is much more common in boys but approximately 10% occur in girls. In children, inguinal hernia is due to persistence of a widely patent processus vaginalis and it is very unusual for there to be associated muscular or fascial weakness. Surgery is","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24821,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24820\/revisions\/24821"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}