Strangulated or incarcerated spontaneous lumbar hernia as exceptional cause of intestinal obstruction: case report and review of the literature

Lumbar hernias are rare conditions and about 300 cases have been reported since the first description by Barbette in 1672. Therefore strangulation or incarceration are also exceptionally encountered. We present a 62 -year-old-man who had strangulated left lumbar hernia and consequent mechanical small-bowel obstruction, alongside with a non strangulated right lumbar hernia. Through a median laparotomy, an intestinal necrosis was found. A bowel resection with end to end anastomosis was performed and the lumbar hernias were repaired on both sides. The recovery was uneventfull. To the best of our knowlwdge thanks to the litterature review presented here, this is the 19th case of incarcerated or strangulated spontaneous lumbar hernia described in the surgical litterature since 1889.