An obscure cause of hip pain.
BACKGROUND
We describe the case of a 53-year-old woman with hip pain secondary to an obturator hernia. Obturator hernia is uncommon, and the most lethal of all abdominal hernias. The high mortality rate of this disease requires an acute clinical awareness to facilitate rapid diagnosis and surgical intervention for improved prognosis.


OBJECTIVE
This case highlights a vitally important diagnosis that is rarely discussed in the emergency medicine literature.


METHODS
Our patient presented without symptoms typical of a bowel obstruction, although a computed tomography scan of her pelvis revealed an incarcerated obturator hernia and a small bowel obstruction.


CONCLUSIONS
Early diagnosis and expeditious surgical management resulted in a good outcome.
Le
Hien T
HT
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco-Fresno, Fresno, California 93701, USA.
Burg
Michael D
MD
D005260:Female; D006553:Hernia, Obturator / Q000150:complications*; D006621:Hip Joint; D006801:Humans; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*