The incarceration occurred 52.6% of the hernia patients in the first month of life, 27.3% in the first year, 26.7% in the second year and 7.8% after 2 years of age. Strangulated inguinal hernia occurred in 8 patients: five patients had ovaries involved, two patients intestines, and one patient omentum. Emergency operations were performed on 66 patients(20.2%) because incarcerated hernia could not be reduced by taxis. At the time of operation, the hernia sacs were empty in 140 of 327 patients and the remainders contained omentum(50), small intestine (44), appendix and/or cecum(28), sigmoid colon(2), ovary and/or tube(66), and omental cyst(l).

An elective hernia repair should be performed promptly after presentation of the hernia, especially before 2 years of life because of high incidence of incarceration. In this study, of 327 incarcerated hernia, 187 patients(57.2%) did not have prior history of incarceration and incarceration developed more than 7 days after hernia onset in 95.6%. If the hernia repairs had been performed within 7 days after hernia onset, about half of the incarceration might have been prevented.