High Small Bowel Obstruction Secondary to Femoral Hernia; Case Report and Review of the Literature

Femoral hernias account for 2% to 4% of inguinal hernias, are more common in women, and are more likely to cause strangulation and necessitate emergency surgery. Bowel obstruction or strangling symptoms, as well as bowel resection-anastomosis, may occur as a result of this illness.

To the best of our knowledge, there are few cases with strangulated femoral hernia. We present a 92-year-old lady who was admitted with a 5-day history of generally feeling unwell, reduced eating & drinking, urinary incontinence & one episode of vomiting(non-bloody). On examination, abdomen was soft, non-tender & not distended. The working diagnosis at that time was Urosepsis with possible gut obstruction. A computed tomography scan revealed-Right femoral hernia causing high grade SBO.

The patient was successfully treated with surgical therapy and hernia was repaired. The postoperative course was uneventful, and 2-weeks follow-up was arranged. Obstructing femoral hernia of the small bowel is uncommon, the doctor should suspect femoral hernia as the source of bowel obstruction. Our example demonstrates the significance of thorough history taking and clinical examination, since any delay in diagnosis increases the patient's risk of mortality and morbidity. If someone have abdominal pain or obstruction, hernias should always be considered.

Keywords: Obstruction, hernia, hypotensive, tachycardic, tachypnoeic.