Herniography in women under 40 years old with chronic groin pain

Objective: To find out the prevalence of symptomatic non-palpable groin her nias in women under 40 years old with undiagnosed chronic groin pain. Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: University hospital, Sweden. Subjects: 116 women 14-39 years old (mean 27) with chronic undiagnosed groi n pain who underwent herniography 1977-1994. Interventions: Intraperitoneal injection of 80 mi iodine contrast medium (2 00 mg I/ml) Results: Hernias were found in 28 patients (24%): 17 in the right groin alo ne, 6 in the left groin alone and 5 bilaterally. 19 patients had hernias on the symptomatic side only. 17 patients had indirect inguinal hernias and 7 had direct inguinal hernias (which are claimed to be extremely rare in wom en). Conclusion: A hernia is a relatively common finding during herniography in young women with groin pain.