Lymphoma diagnosed at inguinal hernia repair.

Tumors presenting in the inguinal hernia sac are considered to be extremely rare, with the more common neoplasms metastasizing from the gastrointestinal tract, ovary and prostate. We report the case of Mantle cell lymphoma identified in the inguinal hernia sac following hernia repair While the hernia sac appeared normal to the surgeon, evaluation by the pathologist showed subtle gross irregularities, with subsequent histologic and immunochemical diagnosis of Mantle cell lymphoma. Twelve previous cases of a lymphoma diagnosed during hernia repair have been described in the English literature. This is the first report of Mantle cell lymphoma found in the hernia sac. This case illustrates the value of routine microscopic evaluation of hernia sacs found from inguinal/femoral herniorrhaphies, as it may be the primary presentation of an asymptomatic metastatic lymphoma. Additionally it underscores the importance of the surgeon's role in screening hernia sacs if the practice of submitting only macroscopically abnormal specimens for microscopic evaluation is adopted.