Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar 26:32:144.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2019.32.144.14846. eCollection 2019.

Strangulated obturator hernia: a case report with literature review

Walid Mnari  1 , Badii Hmida  1 , Mezri Maatouk  1 , Ahmed Zrig  1 , Mondher Golli  1
Affiliations
Review

Strangulated obturator hernia: a case report with literature review

Walid Mnari et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Obturator hernia is rare. It occurs when part of the pelvic contents protrude through the obturator foramen. It is a diagnostic challenge in the emergency department since the signs and symptoms are non-specific. It often occurs in elderly, emaciated and chronically ill women. The clinical picture include intestinal obstruction with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. The treatment is only surgical. Delayed diagnosis of this condition usually leads to a high mortality rate. We report the case of an 83-year-old woman with a strangulated obturator hernia. The hernia was discovered early by computed tomography and was treated by emergency laparotomy. We emphasize on the rule of CT scan to establishing a prompt preoperative diagnosis of an obturator hernia, appropriate planning of surgical intervention and thus optimizing the outcome.

Keywords: CT scan; Hernia; bowel obstruction; obturator foramen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) axial pelvic CT scan; (B,C) multiplanar reconstructed images through the left obturator canal, showed a dilated loop of small bowel (asterisk) upstream of a strangulated point (arrow) caused by a left obturator hernia (large arrow). Noted the collapsed loops down and colon (arrowhead)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kulkarni SR, Punamiya AR, Naniwadekar RG, Janugade HB, Chotai TD, Vimal Singh T, et al. Obturator hernia: a diagnostic challenge. Int J Surg Case Rep. 2013;4(7):606–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liao CF, Liu CC, Chuang CH, Hsu KC. Obturator hernia: a diagnostic challenge of small-bowel obstruction. Am J Med Sci. 2010 Jan;339(1):92–4. - PubMed
    1. Shipkov CD, Uchikov AP, Grigoriadis E. The obturator hernia: difficult to diagnose, easy to repair. Hernia. 2004 May;8(2):155–7. - PubMed
    1. Glicklich M, Eliasoph J. Incarcerated obturator hernia: case diagnosed at barium enema fluoroscopy. Radiology. 1989 Jul;172(1):51–2. - PubMed
    1. Munoz-Forner E, Garcia-Botello S, Lopez-Mozos F, Marti-Obiol R, Martinez-Lloret A, Lledó S. Computed tomographic diagnosis of obturator hernia and its surgical management: a case series. Int J Surg. 2007 Jun;5(3):139–42. - PubMed