Abstract
A 48-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of abdominal pain and vomiting. There were previous histories of depression and anorexia nervosa and she was a slender woman with the body mass index (BMI) of 12.9kg/m2. A plain abdominal X-ray film showed niveau formation in the small intestine and right obturator hernia was revealed in an abdominal CT scan. Emergency laparotomy was performed when the incarcerated ileum at 20 cm from the Bauhin valve had already been released. The hilus of the hernia was repaired with a mesh. Her postoperative course was favorable, and she was discharged from the hospital on the 10th hospital day. She has been free from recurrences for these 18 months. In the past ten years from 1999 to 2008, a total of 569 patients with obturator hernia whose ages were identified have been reported in Japan, including our cases. Of these patients, 11 (1.9%) patients were under 54 years old. The mean BMI value was described in eight out of the 11 patients and seven of the eight patients were “slender” women according to “the Japan Obesity Association criteria”. It is suggested that “slender” women dominate among relatively younger women with obturator hernia.
