Effectiveness of preoperative ultrasonography in predicting metachronous contralateral inguinal hernia in children: a single-arm prospective study using a historical control for comparison

This prospective study evaluates preoperative ultrasound for predicting contralateral inguinal hernias in pediatric patients. While ultrasound showed limited accuracy in detecting persistent processus vaginalis (21% sensitivity), it demonstrated promise in predicting metachronous contralateral hernias with 89% accuracy when using strict diagnostic criteria.