Abstract
The incarcerated obturator hernia is comparatively rare and an emergency operation is performed frequently. Recently, some papers have presented cases of incarcerated obturator hernia treatment with non-operative reduction. We report herein on three cases of incarcerated obturator hernia reduced by the manual femoral pressure method. This paper describes the indication and method of the non-operative reduction with some literature reviews. The three patients comprised two 98-year-old women and one 84-year-old woman. All patients were diagnosed beyond 48 hours after the onset and had small bowel obstruction. On CT imaging, a low density spherical tumor was seen between the right external obturator muscle and the right pectineal muscle. We concluded that reduction was an indication for cases within 3 days after the onset and where bowel necrosis was not suspected. In cases to be reduced with the pressure method, it is important for patient to be placed in the outward rotation position with abduction and flexion of the hip joint. Due to this posture, we were able to apply pressure to the tumor directly and the incarcerated intestine was reduced easily.
