A left-sided inguinoscrotal hernia mimicking a right-sided hernia: a case report

Inguinal hernia repair is a very common surgical procedure. To our knowledge, there are no reports of inguinal hernias crossing the midline from left to right (or vice versa). An 82-year-old man presented in our outpatient clinic with a large inguinoscrotal hernia on the right side. Medical history showed among others an open cystectomy and urostomy because of bladder cancer. He was therefore scheduled for routine repair via Lichtenstein’s technique. A hernia sac was found, but further exploration revealed that its origin was not inguinal or femoral on the right side. The hernia sac crossed the midline and turned out to be from a medial inguinal hernia on the left side. This report describes a rare case of a left-sided inguinoscrotal hernia mimicking a right-sided hernia. Especially in patients with a laparotomy in their medical history, radiological imaging pre-operatively could be useful for diagnosing this rare phenomenon.