Snapshot quiz 11/9

Published: 05/31/2012

Authors: Boersma D, Kornmann VNN and Boerma D

A 28-year-old woman, two weeks after giving birth, attended hospital with a painful non-reducible groin mass, which had developed three months previously. Clinical presentation and ultrasound imaging suggested an incarcerated inguinal hernia. At operation the mass was shown to be varicosities of the round ligament, which were ligated and excised. Round ligament varicosities (RLV) are rare and usually appear in third trimester of pregnancy; they notoriously mimic inguinal hernia. Inguinal hernia is seldom seen in late pregnancy due to the altered pelvic anatomy. A wait-and-see policy for RLV is justified when asymptomatic, since the majority will involute spontaneously (1).

Reference
1. IJpma FF, Boddeus KM, de Haan HH, van Geldere D. Bilateral round ligament
varicosities mimicking inguinal hernia during pregnancy. Hernia 2009; 13: 85–88.