Abstract
We evaluated the age, sex, body mass index, site of onset, diagnosis, anesthesia method, approach, repair of the hernia orifice, presence or absence of intestinal resection, outcomes, recurrence, and contralateral onset in 28 obturator hernia patients, who underwent surgery at our hospital from June 1989 to July 2011. The mean patient age was 84 years, and all were female. From 1995, it was possible to make a correct diagnosis in 96% cases based on CT scan imaging. From 2000, 23% patients underwent surgery through a low abdominal median incision, whereas 77% patients underwent the inguinal approach, and repair of the hernia orifice was performed in 95% cases using meshes. Ipsilateral recurrence occurred in 12% cases, and contralateral recurrence occurred in 7.7% cases. The recurrence rate was 29% in cases that did not undergo repair of the hernia orifice with meshes and 4.8% in cases that did. Although no surgical procedure has been established for incarcerated obturator hernia, the method of closing the hernia orifice via the placement of meshes in the preperitoneal space using the inguinal approach could be beneficial in many cases.
