[Chronology of the surgical repair of inguinal hernia in children].

We have made a revision of 243 cases of inguinal hernia operated in Children Surgery Department of the Military Hospital Gómez Ulla during five years. The conclusion of this work was that once the diagnostic is true the patient must be operated as soon as possible (two weeks). It should be dedicated special attention in case of previous crisis of hernia incarceration and when the symptoms are constipation, frequent cough, phimosis, constant irritability or others process with sudden increase of intraabdominal pressure. There is a description of "distension of intestinal as a sign", which exist in 11,11% of the preoperative studies, and "stomach chamber sign" present in 6,58%, both of them needs treatment as soon as possible. The 6,9% of the patients required a second operation because a new hernia in the contralateral side. We think about unjustified the bilateral systematic surgical exploration.