ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Pediatrics 2021 April;73(2):180-3

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-5276.18.05205-2

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Nuck cyst: a rare cause of inguinal swelling in infancy

Alfonso PAPPARELLA ¹ ✉, Simone VACCARO ¹, Marina ACCARDO ², Laura DE ROSA ¹, Andrea RONCHI ², Carmine NOVIELLO ³

¹ Unit of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Women, Children, General and Specialist Surgery, Luigi Vanvitelli University of Campania, Naples, Italy; ² Unit of Pathology and Cytology, Department of Physical, Mental health and Preventive Medicine, Luigi Vanvitelli University of Campania, Naples, Italy; ³ Department of Pediatric Surgery, Salesi Children Hospital, Ancona, Italy

BACKGROUND: Inguinal and/or inguino-scrotal swellings, such as hernia and hydrocele, are among the commonest anomalies in childhood. Hydrocele of the canal of Nuck is an uncommon diagnosis and a rare cause of swelling in women that occurs due to a patent vaginal process.
METHODS: From January 2001 to January 2016, 353 female patients 1-14 years of age were admitted to our university hospital division for inguinal swelling. We have performed 403 inguinal approaches, and of these, 399 (99%) had inguinal hernias, 3 (0.74%) had a cyst of the canal of Nuck, and 1 (0.24%) had a lipoma. All of the patients with Nuck cysts underwent surgical exploration of the swelling through a right inguinal skin crease incision.
RESULTS: The patients were between the ages of 1 and 8 years. The cyst sizes varied between 25 and 40 mm. All the patients exhibited right, tender, painless, non-reducible masses. In all patients, ultrasound confirmed the suspected diagnosis. The histological findings revealed fibrous-walled cystic formations with mild chronic inflammatory infiltrate that were covered by mesothelial epithelium. The patients’ postoperative follow-ups at 1, 6 and 12 months revealed normally healed incisions with no recurrences.
CONCLUSIONS: The surgical findings and the histological demonstrations of serous epithelium seemed to validate the hypothesis that the patency of the inguinal canal combined with fluid secretion of the peritoneal serosa participated in the formation of the cysts. Surgery with high ligature of the vaginal process is considered the therapy of choice for this pathology.

KEY WORDS: Cyst; Groin; Child