A Case of Intestinal Obstruction Due to Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis

Abstract

A 35-year-old male presented to our hospital with acute onset abdominal pain. He was diagnosed with intestinal obstruction due to marked thickening of the small intestinal wall found on abdominal CT. An ileus tube was inserted and decompression therapy was performed, but there was no improvement of abdominal pain. Therefore, the patient was diagnosed with strangulated bowel obstruction and emergency surgery was performed. Intraoperative findings showed a stenosis of approximately 7 cm with circumferential thickening and erythema of the ileal wall approximately 150 cm from the terminal ileum, and partial resection of the small intestine was performed. Pathological findings showed a high infiltrate of inflammatory cells, mainly eosinophils, from the submucosa to the subserosa. A diagnosis of eosinophilic gastroenteritis was made based on the clinical course and pathological findings. We report this case as an example of intestinal obstruction due to eosinophilic gastroenteritis.