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Introduction Published guidance recommends that all girls with inguinal hernia should be screened for complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS). We report a novel, noninvasive screening technique. Methods Retrospective review of all girls undergoing inguinal herniotomy from April 2009 to October 2010. Those screened using the novel technique of extraction of Y chromosome specific DNA from a buccal mucosal sample obtained by mouth brushing are reported. Results A total of 29 girls were screened by mouth brushing at median age 2.9 years (range 29 days to 9.3 years). Of the 29 samples, 25 were adequate for DNA extraction; 4 were inadequate and screening was repeated (3 repeat mouth brushing, 1 perioperative blood test). Mouth brushing was well tolerated by children and acceptable to parents. A preoperative blood test was avoided in all girls who had a mouth brushing. None of the girls in this study had CAIS. Turn-around time for mouth brushing was mean 4.9 days compared with a minimum of 10 days for a karyotype. This technique is cheaper than a karyotype (£87 vs. £205). Conclusion Extraction of Y chromosome specific DNA from a mouth brushing sample is effective for screening girls with inguinal hernia for CAIS. It is acceptable, cheaper, and quicker than alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inguinal hernia repair in neonates can be a challenging operation and anaesthetic. However, there is no information on how much anaesthetic and operating time is required for such surgery. Planning operating time and resources requires this knowledge. This study looked at 94 neonatal hernia repairs and compared anaesthetic and operating times for these patients with 297 day-case hernia repairs. The median anaesthetic and operating times for neonates with unilateral repair were 20 and 45 min compared with 13 and 30 min for day-cases. However, the ranges for anaesthetic time (10–185 min) and operating time (20–170 min) were considerably in excess of those for day-cases (0–54 and 15–80 min) respectively. Neonatal hernia operations accounted for a total of one theatre list per month in our centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]