Progress in the diagnosis and treatment of obturator hernia / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Obturator hernia is an extremely rare pelvic hernia which occurs mostly in elderly,thin,multiparous women.Clinical manifestations are abdominal pain and/or unexplained intestinal obstruction,and obturator neuralgia due to compressed obturator nerve.As the lack of specific symptoms and external masses likes other abdominal wall hernias,its diagnosis may be arduous and difficult;hence,an accurate preoperative diagnosis or surgical treatment is often delayed,such a delay often leads to gangrenous bowel in a large proportion of cases and results in unacceptably high morbidity and mortality,preoperative detection of the obturator hernia due to clinical alert and in-time computed tomography of the pelvis.Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of surgical intervention are essential for this rare entity.This explanatory review emphasizes and illuminates its various facets under the significant events,anatomy,epidemiology and rationale of its diagnosis and management to familiarize surgeons with the condition that seldom thought of and hence seldom sought.