[Results of Shouldice femoral hernia repair. A prospective study of 94 operations].

At the Department of Surgery, RWTH Aachen, 89 patients with femoral hernia were operated upon between December 1, 1985 and November 30, 1993 and prospectively analyzed. Five patients had a bilateral hernia, 55 were located on the right and 29 on the left side. In 35.1% the operation was performed for incarceration and in 7 cases segments of small intestine had to be removed. Reparation was routinely done in a continuous double-layer technique. Local anaesthesia was mostly used in recent elective cases. Postoperatively, we saw 2 superficial wound infections an 5 subcutaneous fluid collections which had to be aspirated. There was no mortality. Average postoperative time in hospital was 5.5 days. Three recurrences were seen during follow-up. Routine ultrasound in cases of suspected femoral hernia helps to prevent delay of surgical therapy. The positive results justify the application of this technique even in the event of incarceration.