Hindawi Publishing Corporation Case Reports in Medicine Volume 2013, Article ID 952835, 3 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/952835 Case Report Inguinal Hernia and Airport Scanners: An Emerging Indication for Repair? Vijay Naraynsingh, Shamir O. Cawich, Ravi Maharaj, and Dilip Dan Department of Clinical Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago Correspondence should be addressed to Shamir O. Cawich; socawich@hotmail.com Received 19 September 2013; Accepted 31 October 2013 Academic Editor: Yasuhiko Sugawara Copyright © 2013 Vijay Naraynsingh et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. he use of advanced imaging technology at international airports is increasing in popularity as a corollary to heightened security concerns across the globe. Operators of airport scanners should be educated about common medical disorders such as inguinal herniae in order to avoid unnecessary harassment of travelers since they will encounter these with increasing frequency. 1. Introduction Inguinal herniae are common clinical indings in modern surgical practice. Many patients choose to undergo inguinal herniorrhaphy when the minor risks associated with repair are weighed against the potential for the hernia to become complicated. More recently, conservative management has become an accepted therapeutic option for patients with asymptomatic inguinal herniae that are unlikely to strangu- late [1, 2]. We report our experience managing a patient with an asymptomatic inguinal hernia who opted for herniorrha- phy with an unusual indication. 2. Case Presentation A 68-year-old man had a let inguinoscrotal hernia that was asymptomatic and easily reducible (Figure 1). Despite the hernia, he was active and comfortably managed his retired lifestyle. At surgical consultation, he was advised with his options and chose not to have surgery. He was content managing the hernia conservatively for ive years. While traveling on holiday, he made an in-transit stop in a United States airport where he was required to enter a security scanner. Immediately upon exiting the scanner, he was approached by security personnel and rigorously questioned about the presence of a concealed item in his under garments. His explanation that he had an inguinal hernia was not accepted. In the presence of many onlookers at the busy airport, he was separated from his wife and escorted away in the custody of two armed airport security personnel. Ater another elaborate round of questioning in an interrogation room, two additional oicers were summoned, and the patient was subjected to a humiliating examination of the genitalia. Only ater this prolonged exercise was he released back into the airport, resulting in a delay in his travels and ruining his vacation. Frustrated, embarrassed, and inconvenienced, the patient returned home and immediately sought surgical consultation for inguinal herniorrhaphy. Although he managed his hernia conservatively for ive years without event, he was now fearful of a repetition of this experience—this was his justiication for surgical repair. Inguinal herniorrhaphy was completed uneventfully as an ambulatory case under general anaesthe- sia. 3. Discussion Airport scanners were irst introduced in Schipol Airport, Amsterdam in 2007. However, their widespread use in North America was delayed primarily due to the public’s concerns about possible carcinogenic efects and invasion of privacy [3–5]. On Christmas day in 2009, Umar Abdulmutallab passed through airport security with explosives concealed in his under garments and boarded an airliner bound for Detroit