small bowel obstruction secondary to femoral hernia; case report and review of the literature

femoral hernias account for 2% to 4% of groin hernias, are more common in women, and are more appropriate to present with strangulation and require emergency surgery. this condition may lead to symptoms of bowel obstruction or strangulation and possible bowel resection-anastomosis. to the best of our knowledge, there is few reports of strangulated femoral hernia. we herein present an 82-year-old lady who presented with a 5-day history of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. on examination, the patient had a generalized tenderness and distention. the working diagnosis at this time was a bowel obstruction. a computed tomography scan revealed the hernia occurring medial to the femoral vessels and below the inguinal ligament. laparotomy was performed and patient was treated successfully with surgical therapy. hernia was repaired and a small bowel resection was performed with end to end anastomosis. the postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was doing well at a 12-month follow-up visit. obstructing femoral hernia of the small bowel is rare and the physician should suspect femoral hernia as a bowel obstruction cause.