To explore the ultrasonic signs of inguinal hernia and femoral hernia, and their differential diagnosis value.

A retrospective analysis was performed on 60 patients with suspected inguinal hernia or femoral hernia admitted to Tianchang City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between October 2020 and December 2021. All underwent ultrasonography and surgical exploration. The ultrasonic signs and characteristics of inguinal hernia and femoral hernia were analyzed. Taking results of surgical exploration as the golden standard, the Kappa consistency of diagnosis results between ultrasound and surgical exploration was analyzed.

Surgical exploration showed that there were 55 patients with inguinal hernia or femoral hernia, including 45 cases with indirect hernia, 6 cases with direct hernia and 4 cases with femoral hernia. There are 5 patients without inguinal hernia or femoral hernia, including 2 cases with abdominal wall lipoma, 2 cases with hydrocele and 1 case with cryptorchidism. Taking the results of surgical exploration as the golden standard, the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in the diagnosis of inguinal hernia and femoral hernia were 92.73% and 80.00%, respectively (Kappa=0.571). The accuracy of ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of indirect hernia, direct hernia and femoral hernia was 90.91% (Kappa=0.768). The accuracy of ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of hydrocele, abdominal wall lipoma and cryptorchidism was 80.00% (Kappa=0.706), respectively.

Ultrasound is of great value in the diagnosis and classifications of inguinal hernia and femoral hernia, which is the first choice for the differential diagnosis of inguinal hernia and femoral hernia.