Introduction: Richter’s hernia has a misleading clinical presentation at the onset of the disease due to common lack of obstructive signs whereas there is visceral strangulation. The delay in diagnosis is therefore long leading to high morbidity and mortality in a rural context where access to essential surgical care is limited.
Case Series: We report two cases of Richter’s hernia, discovered intraoperatively in a woman and a man of respectively 24 and 29 years of age. They had direct inguinal hernia with partial incarceration of the distal bowel loop without obstruction. The treatment consisted in both cases in a segmental resection and end to end anastomosis followed by the inguinal ring closure and a parietal repair. The postoperative follow-ups in both cases were unremarkable.
Conclusion: Clinical signs of Richter’s hernia are generally misleading at the onset of pathology and imaging is inconclusive. Therefore, awareness during the clinical examination remains the key for proper diagnosis and timely management, for a good postoperative outcome. The procedure depends on the peroperative findings.

Keywords: Cameroon, Diagnostic delay, Richter’s hernia, Strangulation