An extremely rare case of indirect hernia type co-existing with testicular ectopia

Abstract

We present an extremely rare case of inguinal hernia coexisting with testicular ectopia in a child. Male infant 9.5 month old presented with an empty scrotum and the ipsilateral intravaginal testis lying in a high iliac crest position. When crying a moving right inguinal bulge appeared on clinical examination. This grew bigger in moments of increased abdominal pressure and seemed to move upwards towards the right ileac crest. No abdominal wall defect could be palpated. At operation a large hernia sac fixed in the area of the right iliac crest was identified. Adjacent was the fixation point of the gubernaculum and the testis was found in an ectopic location. We removed the large sac after separating the vas and vessels and the testis and we strengthened the dorsal inguinal wall and fixed the testis in a subdartos scrotal pouch. No postoperative complications happened. An undescended testis may present as an iliac crest ectopy, coexisting with moving inguinal hernia. In our case we propose that the higher position of the aponeurosis of the external oblique in combination with ectopia of gubernacular fixation in the ipsilateral scrotum may have caused the ectopic fixation of the sac in the ipsilateral inguinal crest.