A rare case of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy causing a small bowel obstruction and subsequent bowel erosion

Abstract

Gastrostomy tubes can be used to provide long-term nutrition and feeding when oral intake is not adequate. A rare but serious complication includes iatrogenic small bowel injury. The incidence of this is infrequent due to its position of the small bowel beneath the omentum, however, injury leading to obstruction and volvulus has been previously described in the literature. We present an unusual case of gastrostomy tube transection into omental fat causing a kink in the small bowel allowing for a transition point of obstruction and subsequent erosion of the gastrostomy tube into the small bowel.

Blame the drain: early post‐operative small bowel obstruction due to drain

“…Other rarer causes include intussusception and patients with radiation enteritis or peritoneal carcinomatosis . Obstruction secondary to an intra‐abdominal drain is rare and infrequently reported . There are two previously reported cases of early post‐operative small bowel obstruction following anterior resection caused by drains.…”