Systematic Review and Guidelines for Management of Scrotal Inguinal Hernias

Introduction: Of the more than 20 million patients undergoing groin hernia repair annually worldwide, 6% are scrotal hernias in high resource countries rising to 67% in low resource countries which represents a heavy disease burden on relatively young men during their most productive period of life. There are many open questions concerning management of scrotal hernia. These guidelines aim to improve the care for scrotal hernia patients by reducing recurrence rates, chronic pain and infection. Methods: After developing 19 key questions a systematic literature review was performed till 31 March 2021 for all relevant publications with search terms related to Scrotal Hernia. The articles were scored by all co-authors according to Oxford, SIGN and Grade methodologies. Statements and recommendations were formulated. Online Consensus meetings with 25 HerniaSurge members were organised with voting and grading Recommendations as “strong” (recommendations) or “weak” (suggestions) and by consensus, in some cases upgraded. Results: Only 23 articles (two level 2 registry and 21 level 3–5) were selected. It is proposed to define scrotal hernia as an inguinal hernia which has descended into and causes any scrotal distortion. A new classification for scrotal hernias was proposed based on hernia size, SI for upper third thigh, SII for middle thigh and SIII for lower third thigh or below. Irreducibility is denoted with IR. Despite weak evidence antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended. Urinary catheterization is recommended (upgraded) in complex cases (S2-3) due to prolonged operative time. Scrotal hernia repairs have higher associated morbidity and mortality compared to non-complex groin hernia repairs irrespective of surgical experience. Open anterior (mesh) approach is commonest technique and suture techniques in low resource countries. For minimally invasive approaches, TAPP resulted in less conversion to open approach compared to TEP. Conclusion: Although the evidence is scarce and often low quality scrotal hernia management guidelines aim to lead to better surgical outcomes irrespective of where patients live. This necessarily means a more tailored approach based on available resources and appropriate skills. The guidelines provide an impetus for future research where adoption of proposed classification will enable more meaningful comparison of different techniques for different hernia sizes.