A 77 year old woman who presented with an incarcerated hernia of Morgagni was successfully treated without complications. A Medline search (1996 to date) along with cross referencing was done to quantify the number of acute presentations in adults compared to children. Different investigating modalities—for example, lateral chest and abdominal radiography, contrast studies or, in difficult cases, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging—can be used to diagnose hernia of Morgagni. The favoured method of repair—laparotomy or laparoscopy—is also discussed. A total of 47 case reports on children and 93 case reports on adults were found. Fourteen percent of children (seven out of 47) presented acutely compared with 12% of adults (12 out of 93). Repair at laparotomy was the method of choice but if uncertain, laparoscopy would be a useful diagnostic tool before attempted repair. Laparoscopic repair was favoured in adults especially in non-acute cases.
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