8. What is an irreducible hernia?
Correct answer: A hernia becomes irreducible usually because of adhesions of its contents to the inner wall of the sac, or sometimes as a result of adhesions of its contents to each other to form a mass greater in size…
7. What is a reducible hernia?
Correct answer: The contents of a reducible hernia can be replaced completely into the peritoneal cavity.
6. What are the three varieties of hernia at any site?
Correct answer: (1) Reducible. (2) Irreducible. (3) Strangulated.
5. Which six pathological processes can cause an increase in intra-abdominal pressure and give rise to a hernia?
Correct answer: (1) Chronic cough, secondary to chronic bronchitis.(2) Constipation, perhaps due to colonic carcinoma.(3) Urinary obstruction, due to prostatic disease.(4) Pregnancy.(5) Abdominal distension with ascites.(6) Weak abdominal muscles, e.g. in gross obesity or muscle wasting in cachexia.
4. What is the aetiology behind the formation of a hernia?
Correct answer: Hernias occur at sites of weakness in the abdominal wall. The weakness may be congenital, e.g. persistence of the processus vaginalis of testicular descent giving rise to a congenital inguinal hernia, or failure of complete closure of the…
3. What are the five common varieties of hernia in order from commonest to least common?
Correct answer: (1) Inguinal.(2) Femoral.(3) Umbilical and paraumbilical.(4) Incisional.(5) Ventral and epigastric.
2. What type of peritoneum do hernias usually involve?
Correct answer: Most hernias occur as a diverticulum of the peritoneal cavity and therefore have a sac of parietal peritoneum.
1. What is the definition of a hernia?
Correct answer: A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or part of an organ through a defect in the wall of the cavity containing it into an abnormal position. The term is usually used with reference to the abdomen.
13. What are the clinical features of peritonitis?
Correct answer: Peritonitis is inevitably secondary to some precipitating lesion, which may itself have definite clinical features, e.g. the onset may be an attack of acute appendicitis or a perforated duodenal ulcer with appropriate symptoms and signs. Early peritonitis is…
12. What are the pathological features of paralytic ileus?
Correct answer: Loss of fluid; loss of electrolytes; loss of protein.
