Thrombosed sapheno-varix: an important and unusual differential diagnosis of strangulated femoral hernia.

An incarcerated femoral hernia often requires prompt operative management to decrease the risk of bowel strangulation, perforation and death from peritonitis. We present a case of a 60-year-old man who had a clinically irreducible right femoral hernia, and in whom a Richter's hernia could not be excluded. He was found to have a thrombosed sapheno-varix with no evidence of a femoral hernia. Thrombosed sapheno-varix presenting as a strangulated femoral hernia has never previously been described in the literature.