Giant Inguinal Hernias Occur in 0.5% of Patients

As exampled in some of our prior hernia posts, giant inguinal hernias can be very technically challenging. Fortunately, they are rare. This article from Hernia 1999 describes an incidence of about 0.5% of all inguinal hernia repair patients. In my practice, since we specialize in hernia repairs, we probably see hernias of this size in about 1% of our patients. Giant hernias pose a much higher risk of developing a recurrent hernia since the muscles in the groin area are so damaged. Also seen, is a much higher incidence of fluid collections in the scrotum due to the long standing nature of the hernia. That is why we sometimes place a drain in our patients scrotum at the end of surgery. Here’s an interesting article on giant inguinal hernias: