title: A transmesenteric hernia in a child: gangrene of a long segment of small bowel through a large mesenteric defect.
abstract: Intestinal obstruction is a common surgical emergency. Transmesenteric hernia is an unusual cause of bowel obstruction that may result in irreversible damage of the bowel and a fatal outcome. Once incarceration of the bowel occurs, strangulation and gangrene follow immediately. The mortality rate associated with this condition is about 15%, but in the presence of gangrene of the bowel, the mortality rate is more than 50%. An accurate preoperative diagnosis of a transmesenteric hernia is very difficult and rarely made. Therefore, in patients with small bowel obstruction, in the absence of a history of previous surgery to suggest adhesions or an external hernia, the possibility of a transmesenteric hernia must be considered. We describe a case with gangrene of a long segment of the small bowel caused by a transmesenteric hernia through a large defect of small bowel mesentery in a child.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School, Dong-gu, Gwangju, Korea. wkafyddl@hanmail.net
authors.forename: Chan Yong
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jung Chul
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Soo Jin Na
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Shin Kon
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005734:Gangrene; D006547:Hernia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007077:Ileal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008643:Mesentery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed