Small bowel evisceration through the vagina is a rare surgical emergency that requires urgent surgical intervention because of the risk of developing acute small bowel ischemia. We present a case of a 91 year old female presenting with acute small bowel evisceration with majority of her small bowel visible outside the vagina. The bowel wall was edematous requiring emergent laparotomy and reduction of bowel with repair of the vaginal vault. The patient did not require bowel resection. Transvaginal small bowel evisceration is uncommonly described in the literature. Rare cases are reported in elderly, post-menopausal women who have undergone hysterectomy. Multiple approaches to surgical management including laparoscopic, open abdominal, transvaginal as well as combined approaches have been described. Perineal herniation must be kept in the differential in elderly post-hysterectomy patients with sudden onset of abdominal pain with urgent surgical intervention advised.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.