Small bowel through the canal of nuck causing urinary retention

Abstract

The differential diagnosis of indirect inguinal hernia in women can be a challenge to the surgeon as symptoms can vary from chronic pelvic pain to even a palpable labial mass. Indirect inguinal hernia is usually congenital, and a patent canal of Nuck can complicate a hernia with hydrocele. Contents of the hernia sack include small bowel, part of the urinary bladder, or an ovary. This is a case report of an indirect inguinal hernia in a 57-year-old woman presented as a labial mass that caused intermittent urinary retention for a year before she decided to seek medical attention. After a CT scan that confirmed the diagnosis of hernia, the patient underwent a herniorrhaphy with a plug mesh. The sack contained small bowel. After the herniorrhaphy the urinary symptoms disappeared. In conclusion, an inguinal hernia can present as a labial mass causing urinary symptoms without including the bladder or ureter.