Amyand's Hernia: Review of the Literature

Abstract

Amyand's hernia is defined as the presence of the cecal appendix inside the sac of an inguinal hernia. The appendix can be normal, inflamed, perforated or gangrenous, but the first situation is the most frequent. The name "Amyand's hernia" is due to the English surgeon Claudius Amyand (1681-1740), who in 1735 performed the first appendectomy on an 11-year-old boy during surgery for an incarcerated inguinal hernia that contained the perforated cecal appendix in its inner.1,2

When the vermiform appendix is found inside a femoral hernia, it is called Garengeot's hernia, in recognition of René Jacques Croissant de Garengeot (1688-1759), a French surgeon who was the first to describe the presence of the vermiform appendix inside the femoral hernia sac from an indirect inguinal hernia in 1731; in this case, the appendix did not present inflammatory signs. Diagnosis is generally intraoperative, since being an infrequent pathology, without specific symptoms and requiring high diagnostic suspicion, preoperative diagnosis is usually exceptional.