Im. Loftus et al., A NEGATIVE HERNIOGRAM DOES NOT EXCLUDE THE PRESENCE OF A HERNIA, Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 79(5), 1997, pp. 372-375
A retrospective review of 63 consecutive herniograms over a 3-year per
iod was performed to assess the reliability in diagnosis of occult her
nias. In all, 26 hernias were diagnosed in 23 patients, of which 13 we
re confirmed at operation. However, there were three false-positive re
sults. Of the 38 negative herniograms, four proceeded to surgery with
three positive hernia findings. We therefore found false-positive and
false-negative rates of 18.7% and 7.9%, respectively. All of the false
-positive results were in patients with a history of pain as the prese
nting complaint, while all of the patients with false-negative results
had presented with a history of both pain and lump but no clinically
detectable hernia. Our experience of this investigation is not as enco
uraging as others have reported.