Laparoscopic repair of coexisting prevascular and obturator hernias

A prevascular femoral hernia is a rare type of femoral hernia in which the neck lies anterior to the femoral vessels. Obturator hernias are unusual herniations through the obturator foramen. There are no reports in the literature of coexisting prevascular and obturator hernias. Although obturator hernias have been treated successfully by laparoscopic techniques, there are no published reports of prevascular hernias treated in this way. We report the first case in the literature of a patient with a prevascular femoral hernia treated successfully by laparoscopic preperitoneal mesh repair in a rare case associated with ipsilateral obturator and classic femoral hernias. Prevascular femoral hernias are rare, potentially difficult to treat and are ideally suited to investigation and repair by laparoscopic means.