Open AccessSmall bowel obstruction caused by congenital transmesenteric defect
Author(s) -
Faouzi Nouira,
Ben M Dhaou,
A. Charieg,
S Ghorbel,
S. Jlidi,
B. Chaouachi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
african journal of paediatric surgery
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.163
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 0189-6725
pISSN - 0974-5998
DOI - 10.4103/0189-6725.78934
Subject(s) - medicine , mesentery , bowel obstruction , internal hernia , hernia , surgery , intestinal malrotation , sigmoid colon , general surgery , radiology , rectum
Transmesenteric hernias are extremely rare. A strangulated hernia through a mesenteric opening is a rare operative finding. Preoperative diagnosis still is difficult in spite of the imaging techniques currently available. The authors describe two cases of paediatric patients presenting with bowel obstruction resulting from a congenital mesenteric hernia. The first patient had a 3-cm wide congenital defect in the ileal mesentery through which the sigmoid colon had herniated. The second patient is a newborn infant who presented with symptoms and radiographic evidence of neonatal occlusion. At surgical exploration, a long segment of the small bowel had herniated in a defect in the ileal mesentery. A brief review of epidemiology and anatomy of transmesenteric hernias is included, along with a discussion of the difficulties in diagnosis and treatment of this condition.