The femoral hernia - The Bête noire of hernias!

Abstract

An error made on your own is safer than ten truths accepted on faith (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged 1957). Rand's aphorism summarizes all the fears one must experience to become familiar with the difficult clinical diagnosis and surgical treatment of femoral hernias. And more than one error it will be! The cause of this all too common fear is the lack of familiarity with the problem. Femoral hernias are less frequently seen than inguinal hernias and make up only 2 to 5% of all groin hernia series. If the average general surgeon treats 50 hernias a year, this means that he may handle from one to perhaps two femoral hernias a year [1]. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.