African Journal of Paediatric Surgery (Jan 2011)

Small bowel obstruction caused by congenital transmesenteric defect

  • Nouira F,
  • Dhaou Ben,
  • Charieg A,
  • Ghorbel S,
  • Jlidi S,
  • Chaouachi B

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 75 – 78

Abstract

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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.

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