A patient was admitted with pain and swelling in the left inguinal area.
The casualty officer doubted it to be an irreducible hernia and got an
ultrasound examination of the swelling. Ultrasonologist felt it to be an
inguinal abscess, but did not want to rule out a grave possibility of
irreducible hernia. He was taken to the Operation room for exploration of the
swelling. On exploration it was found to be an abscess with abscess surrounded
by indurated and inflamed tissue in the subcutaneous plane. Every thing was superficial
to the External Oblique fascia.
After the surgery the house surgeon asked the operating surgeon, “Sir, I
have written the history for obstructed hernia, shall I change it to the
history for inguinal abscess?”
PS: History: patient had an insect bite at the area of
inguinal canal 3 days back. He developed severe pain and swelling following the
bite. He never had any swelling in the inguinal area previously.
