A 40-year-old woman of north Indian origin was brought to the surgical emergency room 2 hours after being attacked by a bull near her home. The animal had struck her with its horns over her right lower abdomen. The patient complained of pain and swelling over the involved area. On examination, her vital signs were normal. There was no associated head, chest, pelvic, or limb injury. A bruise and a visible, ill-defined swelling over the right lumbar and umbilical regions were seen. On palpation, the area was tender, and the swelling decreased on gentle pressure, with gurgling sounds. A defect of 8 cm in maximum diameter could be palpated with irregular, ill-defined margins. On asking the patient to cough, bowel loops could be palpated through the defect. Since the patient was hemodynamically stable and the diagnosis clinically apparent, a transverse laparotomy was performed incorporating the site of injury. An irregular defect was found involving all subcutaneous layers of the abdominal wall, and was repaired with a preperitoneal mesh. There was no associated intra-abdominal injury. The patient's recovery was uneventful and she was discharged on the 3rd postoperative day. She had no recurrence after 1 year of follow-up.
A 43-year-old middle-aged male of thin built and average nutrition came to us with 5-day history of a swelling, about 2 cm in size, above the right groin. The swelling appeared on coughing and straining only. He had history of being hit by a bull using its horn at the same site 1 week back. At presentation, patient's vitals were within normal limit for his age. On examination, a resolving yellowish-brown 2 cm × 1 cm bruise was present at the alleged site of injury that was 4 cm medial to anterior superior iliac spine and 2 cm above the deep inguinal ring []. On coughing, a small bulge of about 3 cm appeared at the site of injury []. Ultrasonography (USG) revealed a small defect in the anterior abdominal wall with no free fluid in peritoneal cavity or any solid organ injury. No free intraperitoneal gas was visualized on the erect chest X-ray. Since the patient was hemodynamically stable with no apparent sign of internal abdominal injury, the patient was planned for laparoscopic repair of defect. The patient was admitted after 6 weeks. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) of the abdomen was done to define the defect. It revealed a small defect of approximately 2 cm size in the anterior abdominal wall []. The patient was planned for a laparoscopic mesh repair of the hernial defect. However, intraoperatively, we found a small clean split defect in the muscle and fascial layers of anterior abdominal wall of <2 cm size []. Thus, an anatomic tissue repair of the defect in single layer was done transperitoneally using continuous nonabsorbable 1-0 polypropylene sutures []. Patient's postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged on day 3. The patient has been in follow-up for the past 6 months without any reported complication.