Zheng HJ, Zhang JD, Wang ZC, Yao LY. Abdominal cocoon syndrome in a 10-year-old young adolescent after abdominal operation: A case report and review of literature. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(22): 106122 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i22.106122]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li-Yu Yao, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Medical Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 1 Xinmin Street, Chaoyang District, Changchun, Jilin Province, China. yaoliyulele@jlu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Abdominal cocoon syndrome in a 10-year-old young adolescent after abdominal operation: A case report and review of literature
Hong-Jun Zheng, Jing-Dong Zhang, Zhi-Chao Wang, Li-Yu Yao
Hong-Jun Zheng, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (Xiamen Branch), Xiamen 361006, Fujian Province, China
Jing-Dong Zhang, Zhi-Chao Wang, Li-Yu Yao, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children's Medical Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Yao LY, Zheng HJ designed the research study; Zhang JD, Wang ZC collected the raw clinical data; Zhang JD performed the clinical data visualization; Zheng HJ drafted the initial manuscript; Yao LY reviewed the manuscript and made the final revisions; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li-Yu Yao, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Medical Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 1 Xinmin Street, Chaoyang District, Changchun, Jilin Province, China. yaoliyulele@jlu.edu.cn
Received: February 26, 2025 Revised: April 7, 2025 Accepted: April 21, 2025 Published online: August 6, 2025 Processing time: 77 Days and 16.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (SEP), also known as abdominal cocoon syndrome, is rare in children. The etiology of primary SEP is believed to be associated with retrograde menstruation or viral peritonitis in young adolescent girls, whereas secondary SEP refers to SEP caused by other factors such as surgery, peritoneal dialysis, or tuberculosis. Secondary SEP is rare and lack diagnostic specificity in children. Given the potential to cause acute intestinal obstruction, surgical intervention is often required.
CASE SUMMARY
We report the case of a 10-year-old girl with secondary SEP who was admitted to our center with acute bowel obstruction.
CONCLUSION
In this report, we emphasized the imaging manifestations, diagnosis, and operative management of the case. Although postoperative SEP in children is rare, the long-term prognosis is favorable when accompanied with accurate diagnosis, appropriate perioperative management, and timely follow-up.
Core Tip: Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (SEP) (abdominal cocoon syndrome), a rare etiology of pediatric intestinal obstruction, is predominantly secondary to prior abdominal surgery, peritoneal dialysis, or tuberculosis. Characterized by non-specific clinical presentations, it poses diagnostic challenges in children and frequently progresses to mechanical bowel obstruction. We present a 10-year-old female with postoperative SEP, highlighting its distinctive imaging features (including "cocoon-like" peritoneal encapsulation on computed tomography), intraoperative confirmation via adhesiolysis, and successful multi-disciplinary management. This case underscores the critical role of early radiological suspicion and surgical intervention in mitigating morbidity, while providing insights for differentiating SEP from other adhesive pathologies in pediatric populations.
