Patient Safety in Surgery Volume 1

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Testicular atrophy- A rare complication which needs special attention

JOHN GRIFSON   (26 November 2007)  Testicular atrophy rare complication which needs special attention

Testicular atrophy is a rare complication following hernia surgery.Although the incidence of testicular atrophy is 1% following inguinal herniorraphy,the reported incidence in recurrent hernia surgery is around 5%.Atrophy following inguinal hernia surgery is attributed to the pampniform plexus thrombosis which is inadvertently injured during dissection of a large hernial sac from the chord structures.However in laparoscopic hernia surgery ,a large sac is transected and is rarely dissected.Furthermore the pampniform plexus unite to form the testicular vein in the preperitoneal fat.All these factors significantly lowers the chance of testicular atrophy in laparoscopic hernia surgery. Although the medico legal implications following testicular atrophy are obvious,it still remains unclear whether this complication needs to be discussed with every patient undergoing laparoscopic hernia repair.

Competing interests

None declared

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