Amyands Hernia: An Unexpected Finding during Inguinal Hernia Repair

Herniorrhaphy, which is the surgical repair of a hernia, is one of the commonest procedures performed by general surgeons, with over 40,000 hernia operations performed annually in Australia. Approximately 75 percent of abdominal hernias are inguinal and these may contain omentum, bowel and rarely the appendix. The presence of the vermiform appendix, whether inflamed or not, inside the hernia sac is known as Amyand’s hernia, which was first described in 1735 by Claudius Amyand, an English surgeon [1]. It is exceedingly rare and occurs in 1 percent of all inguinal hernias with an estimated rate of 0.07-0.13 percent having associated acute appendicitis [2,3]. We report a case whereby an Amyand’s hernia was discovered during an elective right-sided inguinal hernia repair.