See Also
1. Abdominal Hernia
2. Inguinal Hernia
Pathophysiology
1. Type of Ventral Hernia
2. Develops in scar of prior laparotomy or drain site
3. Risks for post-operative hernia development
  1. Vertical scar more commonly affected than horizontal
  2. Wound infection
  3. Wound dehiscence
  4. Malnutrition
  5. Obesity
  6. Tobacco abuse
Signs
1. Provocative maneuvers to locate hernia
  1. Hernia sac will appear adjacent to scar
  2. Hernia sac may be obvious with patient standing
  3. Valsalva maneuver
  4. Raise head from pillow while supine
2. Large incisional hernias are often asymptomatic
3. Often multiple defects present with several rings
4. Often Irreducible Hernia due to adhesions
Complications
1. Incarcerated Hernia is common
2. Strangulated Hernia is rare
References
1. Goroll (2000) Primary Care Medicine, p. 431-433
2. Degowin (1987) Diagnostic Examination, p. 489-96

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 2/26/2010. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.