Aim: Inguinal hernia and cancer of the colon are two common diseases, but the form of presentation of 
colon cancer contained within an inguinal hernia sac is rare, with only 28 cases having been published up to 
the present time. 
Methods: A review was carried out of the clinical cases published in the world literature, as well as Tables 
summarising these cases published on the Internet. We add a case treated by us, and we have prepared a 
new, updated and extended Table. 
Results: We present a Table with 36 cases of incarcerated hernias in the colon published up to the present 
time. All were males with ages between 44 and 95 years (mean 72.5 years). Twenty-nine cases were 
contained within a left inguinal hernia (80.55%) and 7 (19.44%) within a right one. The most frequent 
location was the left colon in 31 cases (86.1%) and five in the right colon. Nine (25%) of the colon cancers 
were found to be perforated. Preoperative diagnosis was made in 8 cases (22.2%), 5 using opaque enema, 
one with opaque enema and sigmoidoscopy, one using colonoscopy and CT, and in our case using CT. The 
exclusive inguinal approach route was only performed on 4 patients. 
Conclusion: On being presented with an incarcerated inguinal hernia associated with an intestinal 
obstruction, the combination of a colon cancer contained within it must be ruled out using imaging 
techniques, both to confirm the diagnosis, and also to plan the surgical technique.