Vaginal herniation: case report and review of the literature

The purpose of this study was to discuss the treatment of a case of spontaneous intestinal herniation per vagina in a patient who had undergone previous transabdominal hysterectomy and to review the related literature.

A computer-based search of the English literature from January 1900 to October 2004 with the use of the terms vaginal herniation, vaginal evisceration, and vaginal trauma/injury was performed. Causes, presentation, and treatment were discussed and compared with a recent case that was treated locally in our hospital.

Vaginal evisceration was described in the literature as early as 1864; since then <100 cases have been reported in the literature. It is more common in menopausal women with previous hysterectomy pelvic or vaginal surgery. Vaginal trauma, as in rough coitus, instrumentation, obstetric injury, is a recognized cause in premenopausal women.

Vaginal evisceration is a rare, distressing emergency that requires aggressive resuscitation and urgent surgical intervention.