Ahernia occurs when the contents of a body cavity bulge out of the area where they are normally contained. These contents, usually portions of intestine or abdominal fatty tissue, are often enclosed in the thin membrane that naturally lines the inside of the cavity. Although the term hernia can be used for bulges in other areas, it most often is used to describe hernias of the lower torso (abdominal wall hernias). Hernias by themselves usually are harmless, but nearly all have a potential risk of having their blood supply cut off (becoming strangulated). If the hernia sac contents have their blood supply cut off at the hernia opening in the abdominal wall, it becomes a medical and surgical emergency. Aims of the paper were: 1. to reveal the prevalence of inguinal region hernias (IRH) among all patients being admitted to emergency ward of Surgery Clinic at Gracanica during 2006 and 2. to show treatment efficacy of each surgical methods used. Material and method: Clinical
Center Pristine, Surgery Clinic at Gracanica patients' medical records were analyzed. Prevalence of IRH was monitored during the time frame of 1 year (2006). Basic statistical methods were applied for data analyzing. Results and discussion: During the time observed, 504 patients underwent surgical treatment. Among them, 162 patients (32,14%) were operated on inguinal region hernias. IRHs were more prevalent in males - 146 cases (90,12%) in comparison to 16 cases in females
(9,88%). During the certain time period, IRHs were more prevalent in adults 101 cases (62,35%) than in children 61 cases (37,65%). The vast majority of all operated hernias, belong to group of inguinal hernias 156 cases (96,30%). At the same time, there were only 6 cases (3,70%) of femoral hernias. This observation is in concordance with the data published worldwide inguinal hernias make up 75% of all abdominal wall hernias and occur up to 25 times more often in men than women.
The study, also, revealed incarcerated hernia (part of the intestine or abdominal tissue that becomes trapped in the sac of a hernia) in 6 patients (3,70%) while recurrent hernia was found in 3 patients (1,85%). The most frequently used surgical approaches were: i) Ferrary method in 54 patients (33,33%; ii) Lichtenstein method in 42 patients (25,93%), and iii) Bassini method in 35 patients (22,22%). Postoperative complications were noted in 3 patients (1,85%). Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, one may conclude that efficacy of surgical method used in treatment of IRH is in indirect relation with the number of postoperative recidives the higher the number of hernia recurrences, the lower the efficacy of surgical method is