A case report of incarcerated lower abdominal linea alba hernia

A 32-year-old woman was seen at the hospital because of a mass and pain below the umbilicus. Abdominal ultrasonography indicated that the mass was a portion of the small intestine, and the dilated small intestine in the abdominal cavity was also revealed. She was admitted for an emergency surgery under a diagnosis of incarcerated lower abdominal linea alba hernia. The incarcerated hernia was released after anesthetic muscular relaxation. The sac was found protruding through the linea alba defect and dissected out, then the hilus of the hernia was closed. Linea alba hernia is a very rare condition, and only 40 cases including our case have been reported in Japan. The hernia occurred in the lower abdomen in only three cases of them. All three of these patients were obese females, and abdominal high pressure due to obesity in combination with weakness of the linea alba was considered to be the main cause of the lower abdominal linea alba herniae. We reported this case with reviewing of linea alba herniae in Japan.