Evaluation of Resistive Index Following Unilateral Childhood Inguinal Herniotomy at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Background: Herniotomy is said to be the most commonly performed surgery in children; however, its effect on testicular vascularity remains unknown in our environment. Aim: To determine the effect of surgery (herniotomy) on testicular resistive index in children with unilateral inguinal hernia. Study Design: Prospective non-randomized hospital-based study. Methodology: Consecutive children, 1 month to 12 years, who presented with unilateral inguinal hernia were recruited, and informed consent was obtained. Pre-operative testicular resistive index of the ipsilateral testis was measured using Doppler ultrasound a day before surgery. At 7 and 30 days post-operatively, repeat testicular Resistive Index (RI) measurements were taken to determine if there was any significant change in the RI of the testes. The resistive index was determined using the intra-testicular peak systolic velocity and end-diastolic velocity. Differences between the testicular resistive index before and after herniotomy were tested using a paired t-test. A p-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant at the 95% confidence interval.