Aspiration after hernia surgery?

Specialties Operating Room

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Specializes in Float.

My DH had inguinal hernia surgery about 6 weeks ago, laparascopic mesh. He had a followup about 10 days later and the dr. commented about all the swelling in his scrotum. It looked like he still had the hernia. He told DH to come back in 3 weeks and if it wasn't better then they would have to aspirate it. He said that it's because the hernia was "a whopper" and the body's natural rxn is to fill that space with fluid.

DH canceled the appt (grrr!) and has a new one Thursday which I will be making SURE he attends! His scrotum is so large... is this something you all see frequently after an inguinal repair?

Can you tell me what the aspiration procedure is like? The nurse told DH they numb it but that is about as much info as she gave lol. I was curious the length and gauge of needle and if it really will be painfree. I always have to talk DH thru needle procedures :D so I'm trying to figure out what it will REALLY be like?

I sure hope this isn't some type of failure of the mesh/surgery :( Oh I wish it were Thursday already..I'm getting worried.

I've had him avoiding caffiene and sodium and drinking a lot of water. Well he has lost 11lbs but the fluid retention is still there.

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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

He has sub-q emphysema caused by the gas leaking down through the inguinal canal. Quite common and needs no aspiration. I have seen it many times and we just compress the scotum and force the gas back up through the canal ring. I am surprised the surgeon doesn't recognize this. The guys I have worked with say this is no problem and will resolve itself. Now, since it has been 3 weeks and the swelling hasn't gone down, maybe there is a problem that needs attention but if this was the problem post-op it could have been taken care of right away. I am going to ask my surgeon tomorrow and see what she has to say. Mike

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Specializes in Float.

Hmm interesting. Actually I do rememember what you describe being a problem post op. They called me after surgery to tell me how he was doing and said that some gas had escaped into his scrotum and the surgeon went by to check it out but it was ok "now"

I don't know the dimensions of the actual hernia, but I do know they had some trouble getting the mesh in laparascopically due to the size, which delayed the surgery probably about 30 minutes all together. The physician just said it was a "whopper" (exact medical term haha! guess I should take that terminology class to learn the exact dimensions of whopper...bigger or smaller than a big mac?)

He had described it as a hematoma and had said before hand it might happen because of the size. I was looking at it last night, it's just so odd looking, it's like soft at the bottom and firm through the top. I just hope I guess it is just fluid or gas and the aspirating fixes it. He is actually pretty calm about getting it aspirated ..shockingly! lol I think they have them convinced there is NO pain involved in it and I'm just not so sure that will be the case..I hate for him to have false expectations. The dr's nurse said something about using a numbing cream. I'm just not far enough along in my education to know much about the procedure (but I DO get to start doing IV's next week....YEA!!!!)

Mommy

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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

They are talking about Emla cream. Good for kids, I don't know if it would help for a scrotum puncture though, at least with me!

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Three weeks post-op, it is definitely NOT gas - it's fluid. He's essentially formed a hydrocoele.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Three weeks post-op, it is definitely NOT gas - it's fluid. He's essentially formed a hydrocoele.

I agree.

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Specializes in NICU.
Three weeks post-op, it is definitely NOT gas - it's fluid. He's essentially formed a hydrocoele.

I agree. We see this sometimes with our baby boys after surgery to correct an inguinal hernia. (Preemie boys often get these hernias because their testes are undecended, and there is a hole in the abdominal wall to allow them to decend when they are closer to term - but since they usually start eating before that, often when they bear down to stool the end up giving themselves a nice hernia. :( )

We've never had to send them back to the OR or have the fluid aspirated. Usually over time it seems to resolve itself, but I have heard the surgeons say that if it didn't improve in a month or so they'd consider doing an ultrasound and aspirating. Of course, these are babies that don't have to walk, so I can imagine in an adult male it's much more uncomfortable and probably should be treated sooner rather than later...

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