Herniation Through a Five Millimeter Laparoscope Trocar Site: A Case Report

Laparoscopic surgery is currently performed on an increasing list of gynecologic operations. Many such procedures require two or three or more trocar ports ranging from 5 mm to 12 mm or more. It is common wisdom to close the fascial layers of an incision greater than 5 mm in diameter, as there have been anecdotal reports of herniations through large trocar sites. However, there have been no reports of an herniation through a 5-mm trocar site, and many surgeons in practice approximate the skin edges only during closure of these small incisions. We report a herniation through a 5-mm laparoscopic puncture site that occurred on the fourth postoperative day after an otherwise uncomplicated laparoscopic radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection.