Clinical presentation and operative repair of hernia of Morgagni

A 77 year old woman who presented with an incarcerated hernia of Morgagni was successfully treated without complications. A Medline search (1996 to date) along with cross referencing was done to quantify the number of acute presentations in adults compared to children. Different investigating modalities--for example, lateral chest and abdominal radiography, contrast studies or, in difficult cases, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging--can be used to diagnose hernia of Morgagni. The favoured method of repair--laparotomy or laparoscopy--is also discussed. A total of 47 case reports on children and 93 case reports on adults were found. Fourteen percent of children (seven out of 47) presented acutely compared with 12% of adults (12 out of 93). Repair at laparotomy was the method of choice but if uncertain, laparoscopy would be a useful diagnostic tool before attempted repair. Laparoscopic repair was favoured in adults especially in non-acute cases.