Transient small bowel intussusception in an adult: case report with intraoperative video and literature review

Abstract

BackgroundThe term intussusception refers to invagination of a segment of the gastrointestinal tract into the lumen of an adjacent segment. This is a rare entity and it is more prevalent in children and less common in adults. The diagnosis of intussusception in adults is difficult as a result of the nonspecific signs and symptoms. As there are many common causes of acute abdomen, intussusception should be considered when more frequent etiologies have been ruled out. The laparoscopic approach offers both a diagnostic option and a therapeutic one for intussusception in adults.Case presentationWe report a forty-one year old male patient, who presented to our Emergency Department complaining of peri-umbilical pain associated with nausea and vomiting for 1 day. Diagnosed with transient small bowel intussusception without any obvious underlying pathology. This report is the first to present an intra-operative video showing the small bowel intussuscepting and reducing spontaneously. Furthermore, the authors present a review about this rare condition, including previously reported similar cases in literature.ConclusionTransient intussusception is extremely rare and is a challenging condition. Imaging techniques, especially CT scan, are helpful in the diagnosis of intussusception. However, laparoscopy offers the advantage of distinguishing transient intussusception from persistent intussusception.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12893-015-0020-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Bowel Intussusception in Adults: Think Cancer!

“…Child intussusception is commonly idiopathic (primary) with the majority of cases involving the ileum but can rarely involve the stomach, colon, and the rest of the small intestine. It occurs most commonly in male children between 4 and 10 months of age [1,5,6]. Interestingly, tetravalent rotavirus vaccine is associated with a slightly higher risk of intussusception among vaccinated children (1.5 excess cases per 100,000) [7].…”

“…On the other hand, AI is associated with underlying pathology (secondary) in 90% of the cases and equally affects males and females [1,8]. AI occurs in the small bowel in 52% of the cases and large bowel in 38% with 10% involving the stomach and surgical stomas [5,9]. Clinical symptoms of AI are variable and often nonspecific.…”

Case Report: Rare presentation of adult intussusception at Orotta National Referral Hospital, Eritrea

“…Intussusception is commonly defined as telescoping of a proximal part of an intestinal loop towards the distal part of the loop [1][2][3][4][5][6] . The incidence of intussusception is 1-3 cases per 1,000,000 population per year 2,7 .…”

An intestinal carcinoid causing transient jejunal intussusception in an adult—A case report

“…The small bowel tumours are equally divided between primary tumours and metastatic disease [5]. Transient small bowel intussusception is extremely rare with eight recorded cases in the English literature to date [7]. None of the reported cases have presented with a malignancy as the lead point and to our knowledge this is the first recorded case of a malignancy of the small bowel presenting as a transient intussusception.…”