[77-year-old man with rare Littré's hernia]

Abstract

History and clinical findings: A 77-year-old man presented with acute pain and femoral swelling in his right groin.

Examinations: The clinical finding resulted in the suspicion of an irreducible, possibly incarcerated inguinal hernia. Transcutaneous ultrasound did not reveal any hints confirming the clinical suspicion. Because of the impressive clinically finding, the patient was subjected to open exploration of the groin.

Treatment and course: Intraoperatively, the initial clinical finding could be confirmed. Herniotomia showed incarcerated ileal segment with Meckel's diverticle, a so-called Littré's hernia. Subsequently, median laparotomy and ileum segment resection with side-to-side ileoileostomy were performed. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged in good health status on the seventh postoperative day.

Conclusion: Littré's hernia is a rare pathological finding, which can also be considered as an infrequent manifestation of a variant of a commonly encountered clinical/surgical finding such as hernia. The presented case elucidates the difficulty in the timely establishment of the correct preoperative diagnosis. The clinician needs to be aware of this albeit exceptionally rare variation because the symptoms can vary greatly and severe complications can occur. This threat must be encountered via rapid diagnosis-finding and initiation of appropriate therapy.