Objective: To validate a new technique for the confirmation of the diagnosis of recurrent inguinal hernia.
Design: Open study.
Setting: University hospital.
Subjects: 14 Patients with gorin pain who had previously had hernias repaired.
Interventions: Herniography in all 14, which showed recurrent hernias in 6. The 6 then had 20 ml methylene blue infused intraperitoneally, and 12-18 hours later 4 of the 6 were operated on.
Results: At operation 3 of the 4 hernial sacs were stained with methylene blue. There was no histological evidence of acute inflammatory reaction, but only of chronic inflammation which was probably caused by the hernia itself.
Conclusion: Methylene blue injected into the peritoneal cavity makes it easier to repair recurrent inguinal hernias safely.