What makes babies get hernias?

Question

My roommate and I both had a hernia removed when we were babies. My mother said she wouldn't have had mine done if it wasn't life threatening. I'm just curious and always wanted to know. Is it getting to be normal?

Answer 1

Firstly, you don't have hernias removed, you have them repaired. A hernia is simply something pushing through a hole into where it shouldn't be. Usually this refers to bowel pushing through the abdominal wall (typically what people mean) or diaphragm (hiatal hernia or diaphragmatic hernia).

Bowel hernias come in a few different flavors --> direct hernias pass through the abdominal wall. Indirect hernias come through the wall by passing into the inguinal canal in the lower pelvis. The latter type is usually what babies have when people refer to "infant hernias". However, babies can also have abdominal wall hernias if there are defects in formation of the complete abdominal wall, and these become more complicated depending on the type (i.e. omphalocele and gastrochisis to name a couple).

The reason they repair them in babies is that hernias, depending on severity and how much bowel is in them, carry a very small risk of "incarcerating" or strangling the bowel within them (which can become life threatening) or of enlarging. This is why they are typically repaired even if not life threatening at the time.

Answer 2

A hernia is a protrusion of the contents of a body compartment through the wall that normally encloses it. Inguinal hernias are probably the most common defect in children. To understand how they form, you need a knowledge of embryology and anatomy. The testes form in the abdomen and descend into the scrotum in the eighth month of gestation. This canal of descent leaves a potential weak spot in the floor of the abdomen through which a loop of intestine can protrude. Most are not immediately life threatening, but in a few the loop of intestine gets stuck (incarcerated) or has its blood supply cut off (strangulated). The latter can be life threatening, but there is usually time to make a rather simple surgical repair. In uncomplicated hernia repairs, kids often go home the same day of surgery.