Interparietal Inguinal Hernia with Ectopic Testis – An Uncommon Surgical Emergency

A 46-year-old gentleman presented to casualty with a reducible right groin swelling (Figure 1) present since childhood which had suddenly become painful and irreducible for the past 6 hours. He gives history of absent right testis since childhood. There’s no history of vomiting, abdominal distension or obstipation. He had no surgeries in the past, no testicular disease or infertility problems. Physical examination revealed obstructed inguinal hernia with doubtful strangulation, absent right testis and normal appearing left testis. After evaluation, patient underwent emergency exploration of right inguinal hernia under general anaesthesia which revealed gangrenous small bowel, omentum in between external oblique aponeurosis and skin without a hernia sac (Figure 2) and; ectopic right testis in the superficial inguinal pouch (Figure 3). Segmental resection of gangrenous bowel with primary anastomosis and right orchidectomy performed through the same inguinal approach. Anatomical repair of posterior wall followed by approximation of external oblique aponeurosis was performed. Histopathology report showed gangrenous ileum with patchy necrosis; testis with tubular atrophy and hyalinisation, maturation arrest of spermatogonia and hyperplasia of interstitial Leydig cells. Post-operative recovery was uneventful.