Abstract
An 83-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a complaint of right lower abdominal pain. Computed tomography demonstrated that the bowel obstruction was due to incarceration of the small intestine through the right infrapiriformis space. We diagnosed it as an incarcerated sciatic hernia and an emergent laparotomy revealed the small intestine was incarcerated through the right sciatic foramen as a Richter hernia. The incarcerated intestine was reduced by traction, avoiding ileal resection as ischemia was not shown. The sciatic foramen defect was repaired by suturing the edges. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course and was discharged on postoperative day 6.
A sciatic hernia is herniation through the sciatic foramen, that is the greater sciatic foramen or lesser sciatic foramen. Bowel obstruction due to a sciatic hernia is very rare and only seven cases, including present case, have been reported in Japan. We discussed our case with a review of the literature on sciatic hernia.
