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We report an 86-year-old women with an obturator hernia presenting with recurrent right hip pain. Obturator hernia is a diagnostic challenge because the hernial mass is usually concealed beneath the pectineus. It should be suspected in emaciated, multiparous, elderly women presenting with unexplained pain in the groin, hip, thigh, or knee. High levels of clinical suspicion of the high-risk patients and recourse to investigation by computed tomography are important, as delay in diagnosis and treatment is associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

Obturator hernia is an infrequent entity. About 550 cases have been reported in the English literature1,2 since it was first described by Arnaud de Ronsil in 1724. The commonest structure that herniates into an obturator hernia sac is small intestine3-5. Cases have been reported of bladder, fallopian tube, ovary, omentum, appendix, caecum and uterus3,5-7. No previous report of a benign tumour of the broad ligament herniating into an obturator hernia sac, and presenting as a lump in the femoral triangle, has been traced.