[Peritonitis due to a suppurating urachal cyst in a young woman. Review of the literature].

Peritonitis caused by a suppurating urachal cyst in a young woman. A review of the literature. Urachal cysts are not rare but occur much more often in children. In adults they may become infected and cause clinical symptoms including sub-umbilical mid-abdominal pain, fever, guarding and leukocytosis. Intraperitoneal rupture is rare (21 published cases) and only 7 cases have involved an adult female patient. The authors report the case of a 27 year old woman with peritonitis caused by rupture of a suppurating urachal cyst. 6 cm in diameter, for which the diagnosis had been established by pre-operative ultrasound. The surgical procedure carried out was total excision of the urachus, of the fascia between the umbilicus and the bladder, and partial excision of the dome of the bladder. Indeed total excision should have been carried out because of the risk of malignant degeneration of this mass to an adenocarcinoma.