Published online Mar 27, 2010. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v2.i3.85
Revised: November 12, 2009
Accepted: November 19, 2009
Published online: March 27, 2010
Intussusception is quite uncommon in adults. We report a rare case of a 76-year-old man with small bowel intussusception induced by two indwelling bowel tubes, the first a jejunal feeding tube and the second an ileus tube. After complete reduction of the first intussusception caused by the jejunal feeding tube and adhesion, re-intussusception occurred due to the postoperative adhesion and ileus tube inserted into the bowel after the previous operation for intussusception. Finally, the part of the jejunum with re-intussusception and adhesion, including the place where the previous reduced intussusception had occurred, was resected. This case is a reminder that when there is no mucosal lesion other than an indwelling bowel tube or a hard adhesion/inflammation around intussusception, the patient should be operated on without delay for resection of the intussusception to prevent re-intussusception, even if the resected bowel is predicted to be long.
INTRODUCTION
Intussusception is a rare cause of postoperative intestinal obstruction in adults[1,2] and recurrent intussusception seldom occurs in patients who have undergone surgical reduction[3]. We present here the case of a patient with small bowel intussusception induced by jejunal feeding tube placement and with re-intussusception induced by an ileus tube inserted after operative reduction of intussusception. Finally, both the part of the jejunum with re-intussusception including adhesion and the place where the previous reduced intussusception had occurred was resected.