Traumatic hernia of the abdominal wall.

Traumatic hernia of the abdominal wall is unusual and even more so the complete avulsion of muscles from the costal arch. While it is usual to search carefully for diaphragmatic hernia during laparotomy for blunt abdominal trauma, traumatic hernia of the abdominal wall of this nature can be easily overlooked. One such case in a child is presented where the diagnosis was not made at the initial laparotomy following blunt abdominal injury received in a road traffic accident. We believe bilateral avulsion of all the abdominal wall muscles from the costal arch has not been reported before.