An Unusual Diagnosis of Inguinal Pain in a Childbearing-Age Woman: An Inflamed Canal of Nuck Cyst With an Abnormal Leiomyomatous Proliferation

The canal of Nuck cyst is a rare pathology seen in women in the inguinal canal. It is often mistaken for a hernia or a lipoma; however, diagnosis is confirmed on surgical exploration and histopathological examination. We present a case of a 38-year-old woman, gravida 2 para 2, with progressively worsening left lower quadrant abdominal and groin pain over two months. Imaging identified a small cystic structure in the canal of Nuck that had increased in size and demonstrated surrounding inflammatory changes. She underwent a laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal exploration; the canal lesion was excised, and the associated inguinal hernia was repaired. Histopathological findings were consistent with leiomyomatous proliferation. We report a rare case of severe groin pain in a childbearing-age woman to highlight the differential diagnosis and describe this unusual finding. Documenting such cases is important for improving our understanding of canal of Nuck cysts and their pathogenesis.