Two Cases of Obturator Hernia Performed Elective Surgery after Noninvasive Reduction

Abstract

We report two cases of obturator hernia operated on electively after being reduced spontaneously and noninvasively. Subjects were two women, one 70 years old and the others 81, both admitted as an emergencies due to the abdominal and left femoral pain. Pelvic computed tomography (CT) and abdominal ultrasonography¹⁾ showed a portion of the bowel in the left obturator canal diagnosed as obturator hernia. The hernia in case 1 shrank spontaneously within 7 hours of symptom onset. Elective inguinal surgery was done using a mesh sheet. The hernia in case 2 was reduced using an ultrasonic probe within 2 hours of symptom onset followed by elective surgery using the Kugel method. Both postoperative courses were uneventful with the women discharged 6 days after surgery. Emergency surgery is generally conducted immediately after a diagnosis of obturator hernia, but we have found that obturator hernia surgery way also be done electively after spontaneous, noninvasive reduction. So we have reviewed similar Japanese cases. It is important, however, to reduce symptoms noninvasively within 24 hours and to consider the size of the prolapsed bowel.