Treatment of linea alba hernia

We also call white line hernia supraventral hernia. Although this disease is not very common, we still need to know some knowledge about it, which will help us prevent and treat it. We must also recognize and understand the symptoms of white line hernia, so that we can find it in daily life and treat it in time.

White line hernia can easily cause abdominal pain in patients. In addition, white line hernia can also cause nausea and vomiting in patients. So how should we treat white line hernia? Let's take a look at the introduction below.

A hernia that protrudes through the linea alba is called a linea alba hernia, also known as an upper abdominal hernia. The linea alba is formed by the rectus abdominis sheaths on both sides interweaving at the midline of the abdomen. The linea alba above the navel is wider, while the linea alba below the navel is narrow and firm. Therefore, white line hernia often occurs above the navel, mostly due to poor development or holes in the abdominal white line.

1. Symptoms

1. Abdominal pain

The most common symptom in patients with linea alba hernia is upper abdominal pain. Most patients only experience localized dull pain in the upper abdomen, while a few experience more severe deep pain. The mechanism of abdominal pain is mainly that the hernia compresses the intercostal nerve fibers passing through the white line, causing localized pain, and the greater omentum and round ligament of the liver are involved, causing deep pain. Abdominal pain may radiate to the lower chest and back. The degree of pain is related to body position, eating and heavy physical labor. The pain is often relieved or disappears when the body position changes, especially when lying down, but it may worsen after eating or heavy physical labor. The severity of abdominal pain is not proportional to the size of the hernia. Often the hernia is very small but the clinical symptoms are very severe.

2. Nausea and vomiting

A small number of patients with white line hernia may have gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting in addition to abdominal pain. The mechanism of occurrence is: ① The prolapsed omentum and the traction of the round ligament of the liver can cause deep pain and cause reflex nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms; ② The traction of the greater omentum and the round ligament of the liver can lead to pyloric spasm, and then gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.

(II) Physical signs

1. Abdominal wall mass

An abdominal wall mass is the primary sign of a linea alba hernia. Since most white line hernias occur between the navel and the xiphoid process, the hernia mass is mostly located on the white line between the xiphoid process and the navel above the navel, and may be biased to one side of the midline. The hernia mass is more obvious when standing or after a meal. The diameter of a hernia is generally around 2 to 4 cm. Some scholars have reported that the largest hernia is up to 15 cm in diameter. In a few patients, the hernia is very small, just a soft round protrusion under the skin, which is not easy to detect. It is even more difficult to detect in obese patients. When the hernia contents are returned, the edge of the fascial hernia ring can be touched at the white line.

2. Litten sign positive

During the physical examination, place your fingers on the suspected hernia site and ask the patient to cough forcefully while standing. Often, while coughing, you can feel a crackling sound with your fingers, which indicates a positive Litten sign.

3. Induce pain

Pinch the mass between the thumb and index finger and pull it outward, which often causes abdominal pain in the patient due to the involvement of the round ligament of the liver, peritoneum or greater omentum.

Asymptomatic white line hernias may not require treatment because they may continue to grow but are unlikely to become incarcerated. For patients with obvious clinical symptoms and no special surgical contraindications, surgical treatment should be performed. Different surgical methods can be selected for treatment of different pathological types.

Above we introduced what white line hernia is. We know that white line hernia is not a common disease, but we still need to learn some knowledge about white line hernia so that we can prevent and treat white line hernia well in daily life. The above article introduces in detail the symptoms and treatment methods of white line hernia.