Bowel obstruction on internal hernia

Review Article

Abstract

Internal abdominal hernias are an uncommon etiology of intestinal obstruction.

They are responsible for 0.2 to 5.8% of small bowel obstructions in published series¹.

Here, we report the case of a 27-year-old patient who presented to the emergency department with an occlusive syndrome. On examination, the abdomen was tympanically distended, and on imaging, the bowel was distended upstream of a thickening of the last ileal loop.

The patient underwent emergency surgery, with exploration revealing an incarcerated bowel loop 40 cm from the ileocecal junction in the retrocecal fossa, indicative of an internal hernia with 4 cm of proximal bowel distension. The loop was successfully reduced and found to be viable.