Paracecal hernia with intestinal ischemia treated with laparoscopic assisted surgery

INTRODUCTION: Paracecal hernia is rare, and strangulation with ischemia has been infrequently observed in the limited number of published reports on paracecal hernias. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We describe a case of an incarcerated paracecal hernia with resultant ischemic bowel that was successfully treated with laparoscopic-assisted surgery. A 54-year-old man who had not undergone any surgery previously presented to our hospital with abdominal pain and vomiting. An abdominal computed tomographic scan showed evidence of an intestinal obstruction at a paracecal site. An emergency laparoscopic surgery demonstrated incarceration of a loop of the small bowel in the paracecal fossa. We removed the incarcerated small bowel from the paracecal fossa, noted that the tissue was necrotic, and resected this segment of bowel through a mini-laparotomy incision. The patient was discharged on the 13th postoperative day. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This case is unique in that the patient presented with small bowel strangulation, causing intestinal ischemia. Laparoscopic surgery is useful in the diagnosis of internal hernias and is also useful for the treatment of small bowel obstruction due to paracecal hernias complicated by ischemic bowel.