A 69-year-old female was referred to our clinic for an incidental finding of a large Morgagni hernia found on a recent CT chest scan for lung cancer screening. Patient reported occasional shortness of breath after prolonged ambulation but denied chest pain. She did have remote history of acid reflux symptoms but nothing recently. She denied issues with prematurity or issues with development as an infant, chest trauma, or MVA history. She did complain of occasional right shoulder pain but attributed this to arthritis. Denied history of heart attack, stroke, DVT, or PE. She had a 30-pack-year smoking history but quit a year prior. She was up-to-date on her colonoscopy, current within the past year. She denied hematochezia and melena, bowel habit changes or major body weight changes as well as any current abdominal pain. On examination her vitals were within normal parameters. Heart and lungs were unremarkable. Abdominal examination was soft with normal bowel sounds and nontender. Remainder of examination was unremarkable. Laboratory values included a normal CBC and BMP. A CT chest scan had demonstrated a large retroxyphoid hernia of Morgagni involving several loops of small bowel and transverse colon located in the right inferior hemithorax (Figs and ). No evidence of acute incarceration or strangulation were noted. A detailed discussion was undertaken with the patient regarding her hernia and she was consented for a laparoscopic repair with mesh.\nPatient underwent a laparoscopic approach in lithotomy positioning with the primary surgeon working between the legs. Three working ports were used, a 12 mm port at the umbilicus and two 5 mm ports; one in the LUQ and one in the RUQ. Upon initial laparoscopy multiple loops of small bowel were progressively reduced out of the hernia sac which also included the ascending colon and part of the transverse colon (Figs and ). All the small bowel and the colon appeared viable. The redundant parietal peritoneal hernia sac was excised out of the right inferior hemithorax utilizing a LigaSure (Covidien) (Fig. ). The falciform ligament was also taken down all the way to the diaphragm. The defect in the diaphragm measured to be approximately 9 cm by 4 cm. A section of Pariatex composite mesh was then trimmed to 2 cm in width by 9 cm in length. Three stay sutures of 0 Ethibond were placed laterally and in the middle of the mesh. This was placed into the peritoneal cavity after soaking it in vancomycin with local anesthetic. The sutures were then percutaneously brought through the diaphragm edge that was unattached to the anterior abdominal wall and then subsequently through the anterior abdominal wall. These were then tied thereby re-approximating the unattached edge of the diaphragm to the anterior abdominal wall near the xiphoid (Fig. ). Additional 0 Ethibond sutures were placed in between these initial ones percutaneously with a suture passer.\nAdditionally, another Pariatex composite mesh was then trimmed to 12 cm in width by 9 cm, soaked in vancomycin with local anesthetic and then placed into the abdominal cavity. It was positioned over the area of the repair and fixed into place with absorbable tacks around its caudad edge and centrally. Along the cephalad edge it was fixed with a running V-lock absorbable suture to the diaphragm. Fibrin glue was placed along this same edge (Fig. ). The ports were removed and incisions were closed.\nPatient’s postoperative course progressed well. She was monitored overnight and discharged the following day. She was seen for follow-up in 2 weeks out of surgery and did quite well. She was tolerating a regular diet and having bowel movements. A month after surgery another CT scan was obtained which demonstrated a postoperative seroma in the right inferior hemithorax (Fig. ). Currently, the patient is to be seen in a 6-month follow-up to have another CT scan at that time.
An 82-year-old woman came to our hospital with chief complaint of nausea and vomiting that worsened after taking meal from 2 weeks ago. She had no epigastric pain or dysphagia or odynophagia and no weight loss was detected. She had no history of blunt trauma prior to this problem. A chest X-ray was done and showed round opacity with air-fluid level at right hemithorax on the dome of the diaphragm (). Biochemical marker was normal. On further workup, thoracic CT scan was performed and revealed part of the colon, omentum, and stomach herniated into the thorax. When the diagnosis is confirmed, the patient was prepared for laparoscopic surgery.\nAfter preoperative risk assessments including ECG, echocardiography, cardiologist consult, routine laboratory tests, and pulmonary function test, patients were prepared for surgical repair of the Morgagni hernia.\nPatients were placed in the supine position. A Foley catheter was inserted after general anesthesia. Pneumoperitoneum with carbonic dioxide (CO2) was performed by Veress needle. One 10 mm trocar port was inserted above the umbilicus and a camera (30° angulated optic) was inserted into the abdominal cavity. Two additional trocars (5 mm) were placed at the right and the left of the abdomen, and one 10 mm trocar was placed at the left flank, respectively. Subsequently, patients were putted on the reverse Trendelenburg positions. The anesthesiologist manually inflated the lungs to ensure positive pressure in order to facilitate the reduction of the sac contents. Intraoperatively, hernial sac content (colon, omentum, and part of stomach) was pulled out and reduced back into the abdominal cavity (). The falciform ligament was divided and the hernia sac was excised at first two cases by LigaSure (), but at operation of the third patient, the hernial sac had not been removed. The size of the defect was 6 × 7 cm in the first patient, 5 × 6 cm in the second patient, and 6 × 6 cm in the third patient. Dual-sided mesh (15 × 20 cm) was inserted into the abdominal cavity through the 10 mm port in all three cases. Mesh was expanded over the defect and fixed to the anterior abdominal wall and edge of the diaphragmatic defect in the posterior part with spiral tacks (Protack®, Covidien, Mansfield, MA, USA) (). After removal of the trocars under direct visualization, the fascial incision at the 10 mm trocar sites was closed via sutures. All patients were admitted to the SICU for the first postoperative day and discharged within 48 to 72 hours after surgery. All three cases were discharged ambulatorily and putted on normal diets. There was no complication such pneumomediastinum, fluid collection, or recurrence during 20 to 30 months of follow-up for all patient.