Herniation of gravid uterus through an incisional hernia with skin defect and uterine scar dehiscence

Pregnancy complicated by massive incisional hernia: challenges in management and review of literature

Pregnancy complicated by incisional hernia is rare but can become an obstetric challenge if the gravid uterus becomes displaced or incarcerated into the hernial sac or if there is ulceration of the overlying dermis as a result of increased intra-abdominal pressure being transmitted to the skin. We report a case of a pregnant woman presenting with a large incisional hernia at 19 weeks of gestation and discuss how problems encountered with progressing pregnancy were managed conservatively by adopting a multidisciplinary team approach (which included surgeons and radiologists). She underwent a caesarean section at 35 weeks of gestation due to active bleeding from the ulcerated skin and foetal growth restriction with subsequent staged secondary hernia repair at a tertiary centre. Close surveillance is mandatory, and a decision on the mode and timing of delivery as well as when to perform the surgical repair of the fascial defect should be team based.

A rare case of an incarcerated incisional hernia with gravid uterus

Herniation of a gravid uterus through an abdominal wall incisional hernia with overlying skin necrosis is exceptionally rare. A 29-year-old multiparous K30 + 4/40 pregnant female presented with a 1-month history of worsening abdominal wall skin changes. Magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen and pelvis confirmed herniation of the gravid uterus into the hernia sac. A lower uterine segment caesarean section and hernia repair were performed by the general surgical and obstetrics team in view of the potential maternofoetal complications. This case highlights the importance of early recognition and the difficulties in managing gravid uterus herniation.

Strangled gravidic uterus, an exceptional complication of umbilical hernia during pregnancy, a case report

Introduction

Strangulated pregnancy is a very rare presentation in which the intra umbilical strangulated form is exceptional. To our knowledge, we report the first Moroccan case and one of less than 10 cases published in the literature of a strangulated gravid uterus; in a woman admitted for treatment of umbilical pain.

Case presentation

Through this presentation, we report a sporadic case of hernial strangulation during pregnancy containing an evolving pregnancy in the umbilical harness bag. The suspicion of this diagnosis was clinical and the confirmation made by ultrasound and abdominal MRI for confirmation. The objectives of this publication are threefold: i), to report this new exceptional case ii), to highlight the place of imaging in the management of hernial pathology iii), and to recommend surgical treatment of umbilical hernias in women of childbearing age in order to avoid surgical complications and maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.

Conclusion

Our case report shows that we should consider this very rare presentation of strangulated pregnancy. Our work also reports another new case to the poor published literature on this subject and emphasizes the importance of surgical management of parietal pathology by focusing on the parietal impact of physiological change during pregnancy.

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Atypical presentation of the strangled uterus.

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A strangled umbilical hernia containing a pregnant uterus being one of less than 10 cases reported in the literature.

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Take into consideration the possibility of complication of parietal pathology during pregnancy.