Ileosigmoid knotting, or compound volvulus, has not been reported previously in Australia. A 41 year old woman of Anglo-Saxon origin presented with a short history of extreme abdominal pain that was out of proportion to her physical findings. At operation it was found that her entire ileum was tightly knotted around the redundant, twisted sigmoid colon. Both closed loops were gangrenous and it was impossible to unravel the bowel. She recovered uneventfully following resection and primary anastomosis of both portions of the intestine.Most patients with this uncommon condition have been reported from Finland and eastern Africa. An arrangement of the small bowel and sigmoid colon on long, narrow mesenteries would appear to be a prerequisite. The brevity of the history and the severity of the abdominal pain call for early laparotamy. Prolonged attempts to untie the knot are dangerous. It is safer to divide the ileum at the knot and resect it in order to release the sigmoid colon. Primary anastomosis is feasible where the history is short and the uninvolved intestine is clean and collapsed.

Radiologically guided embolization with gelfoam is a safe, relatively simple procedure, which may be useful in the treatment of chronic enterocutaneous fistula.

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BackgroundFemoral hernia accounts for 3% of all the hernias, and in 0.5–5% of cases, the appendix can migrate through the femoral hernia and is called de Garengeot hernia. It is a very rare condition, and the incidence of appendicitis in this type of hernia is as low as 0.08–0.13%.Case presentationWe bring into discussion a case of a 47-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with a painful right-sided groin lump for the past 2 days. After initial resuscitation, a CT scan was requested which showed the presence of inflamed appendix inside the femoral canal. She was taken to the operative theatre, and during the laparoscopy, the appendix was identified migrating through the femoral canal and it could not be retracted into the peritoneal cavity; therefore, the mesoappendix was divided and the operation converted to the open low approach. After identifying the femoral hernia sac and opening it, the appendix was removed and herniorrhaphy was performed. Our patient had an uneventful recovery and was discharged on the following day.ConclusionWe report a rare case of de Garengeot hernia which was diagnosed preoperatively. Because of its non-specific presentation, patients are usually diagnosed with incarcerated femoral hernia and are taken to operative theatre and the final diagnosis is made intra-operatively. Due to its rarity, there is no standard approach for this condition, and emergency appendicectomy and concurrent herniorrhaphy is the mainstay of treatment. In this paper, we present different surgical methods for the treatment of this type of hernia.