Sliding inguinal hernia in patients over 70 years of age.

In a 1973 study of 200 aged patients with groin hernias, a comparatively high incidence of the type known as sliding hernia was noted. The present study of 60 patients over age 70 seen at the Henry Ford Hospital between the years 1940 and 1972 was devoted specifically to the problem of sliding hernias. The threat of bowel strangulation is often advanced as a reason for the operative repair of such hernias, but this complication is rare. Bowel dysfunction, constipation and local discomfort are far more common, and gave rise to annoying symptoms in 75 percent of the patient studied. Barium enema x-ray examinations often revealed some degree of bowel obstruction. Most often the sigmoid colon the left side and the ileocecal segment on the right side constituted the sliding components of the hernia; the bladder was involved less often. Repair of 62 sliding hernias in 60 patients was performed successfully. There were no deaths, and only one recurrence of the hernia.