Incarcerated umbilical hernia resulting in small bowel obstruction

Case contributed by Michael P Hartung
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting.

Patient Data

Age: 35 years
Gender: Female

Dilation of a segment of the mid small bowel leading into the umbilical hernia defect, which contains a short loop of dilated small bowel with surrounding fluid. The rest of the bowel is decompressed. 

Case Discussion

Early small bowel obstruction due an incarcerated umbilical hernia, which was successfully reduced manually in the emergency department, helping to avoid the need for surgery. The amount of fluid surrounding the incarcerated loop helps to confirm that the loop has compressed vasculature and outflow and requires urgent attention. 

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