A person with a hernia has a piece of intestine that protrudes through an abnormal opening in the abdominal wall.

In a person with an incarcerated hernia, the intestine has become stuck in the abnormal opening. This stops the blood supply to the intestine, and the tissue starts to die.

Examples include:

• Incarcerated inguinal hernia
• Incarcerated umbilical hernia
• Incarcerated ventral hernia
• Incarcerated incisional hernia
• Incarcerated femoral hernia