Resetting of an incarcerated hernia by manipulation

  Ingrown inguinal hernia is the most severe form of hernia, mainly manifested by sudden enlargement, hardening, inability to retract and tenderness of the hernia mass. When the embedded contents are intestinal tubes, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, anorexia or crying and irritability may occur. These symptoms gradually worsen and can further develop into strangulated hernia if left untreated.  Manual repositioning can solve about 70% or more of the incarcerated hernia. The texture of the mass is explored first, and if the texture is uniform and the capsule is sexy, repositioning can be tried. The index finger and thumb of the left hand are placed over the external ring opening and pushed downward without much force, as long as they can block the protrusion of the hernia sac over the external ring. The right hand is circularly opened and pressed inside, outside, above and below the hernia sac with continuous slow pressure will be successful.  If it still does not work, let us analyze what is the cause.  1. Severe congestion and edema Probing the hernia contents with two fingers, if the intestinal wall becomes thick and hard, it indicates severe congestion and edema. If a pie-like mass can be retrieved, it should be tethered edema. Only soft tissue with normal deformability can pass through the narrow outer ring, and the deformability of the tissue inside the hernia is very limited at this time, so surgery should be an option.  2.Large mass with high tension In addition to indicating a large opening of the external ring, there is more gas and fluid in the intestinal cavity, or severe edema, or there is already a large amount of blood and ooze, which is not easy to distinguish, and the risk of resetting is higher and surgery is needed.  3.Large mass but not high tension The main reason for obstructing the return of the hernia at this time is that the herniated intestinal canal is long and collaterally formed, which is often encountered during surgery, and the intraoperative return of the hernia is also difficult, often requiring expansion of the hernia sac neck. But the difficulty of surgery does not necessarily mean that the manual repositioning is also difficult. Let us think again about the situation of the external ring opening, which is step-like except for the posterior wall, which is relatively flat, and whether we can use the posterior wall – flip and reposition!  Raise the hips, place the left hand on the anterior part of the hernia sac and push it toward the scrotum, place the right hand on the posterior part of the hernia sac, use the index finger to flatten the posterior part of the intestinal canal near the external ring mouth and return the contents of the local segment of the intestinal canal, using gravity to gradually return it, somewhat like changing the pillow skin. Be careful not to push up the whole body, so that the hernia sac and intestinal canal move up at the same time, but the hernia sac will not go back.  4. The hernia sac is not too large, but it just can’t go back If you probe carefully you will find that the mass can be deformed with squeezing and the intestinal canal is soft and can’t be made stronger. At this point, it should be caused by the sticky intestinal contents. It should be considered as a hard-to-recover hernia, and the outer ring opening is not tight. However, the force of the paste is not easily transmitted, and conventional squeezing is hardly effective. The segmental rejection method can be used.  Use your fingers to break off a small part of the hernia sac near the outer ring, then slowly squeeze the contents into the abdominal cavity, and then squeeze a little more.  5, only a little bit left, high tension, can not return After the water and gas in the intestinal cavity are exhausted, a small amount of solid remains, hanging like a hook on the mouth of the outer ring. At this point, just use your thumb to press directly backwards.