Inguinoscrotal swellings in childhood: a clinico-diagnostic approach to differential diagnosis

ABSTRACT

Background: Inguinoscrotal diseases are one of the commonest group of disorders seen in clinical surgical practice. A wide range of swellings are seen in this region in children and includes hydrocele, torsion testis, ectopic testis, lymphadenopathy, inguinal hernias, cysts, epididymitis, orchitis, tumors etc. Vigilant clinical and radiological evaluation of inguinoscrotum for varying diseases helps in proper diagnosis and surgical management of its differential diagnosis.Methods: The present study was conducted as an observational study over a period of 10 months and enrolled a total of 50 patients.Results: In this study, 31 cases had hydrocele, 14 cases had inguinal hernia, 2 cases had epididymorchitis, 2 cases had lymphadenopathy and one case had idiopathic scrotal edema. Individual diseases had varying presentations, clinical findings and post-operative findings.Conclusions: There is a varying broad spectrum of swellings in the inguinoscrotal region in young male children. It was concluded that proper clinical and radiological evaluation of the patient helps to timely diagnose the disease and hence help in identifying correct approach to the management of the case.