There are two paracolic gutters in a human body.
Left paracolic gutter retroperitoneal.
The inframesocolic space also contains paracolic gutters which are peritoneal recesses that are inferolateral extensions of their corresponding inframesocolic spaces on the posterior abdominal wall lateral to the ascending and descending colon respectively.
As was mentioned earlier fluid collections in the paracolic and left inframesocolic spaces may communicate with the pelvic spaces fig 10.
The main paracolic gutter lies lateral to the colon on each side.
The right and left paracolic gutters are peritoneal recesses on the posterior abdominal wall lying alongside the ascending and descending colon.
The right and left paracolic gutters both lies on the lateral side of posterior abdominal wall alongside the ascending and descending colon are the peritoneal recesses.
A less obvious medial paracolic gutter may be formed especially on the right side if the colon possesses a short mesentery for part of its length.
These types have not been included in the current classification.
The right lateral paracolic gutter.
The left medial paracolic gutter.
On the left side the retrorenal plane and the perirenal space extend to the left diaphragm.
Thorough medline search revealed only few case reports of ih with the gate located in the paracolic gutter adjacent to the colon 5 6.
A less obvious medial paracolic gutter may be formed especially on the right side if the colon.
In our case a retroperitoneal hernia was located in the left paracolic gutter lateral to the sigmoid colon.
The left medial paracolic gutter.
Interfascial spread is another method of communication between the abdomen and pelvis and also allows communication across the midline through the retromesenteric plane.