Long-standing painless intussusception in adults

Abstract

Long-standing painless intussusception in adults is considered to be rare. We report three such cases with an emphasis on color Doppler results. In our three cases the indication for abdominal US was a palpable mass in all these cases, and intussusception was detected by US at a time when the patients had only very mild abdominal discomfort. Persistence of sufficient blood flow, as was suggested by the color Doppler results, was thought to be the most likely pathomechanism of long-standing painless intussusception. The underlying disease was tuberculosis in two of the three cases. Thus, when encountering patients with painless intussusception, tuberculosis must be kept in mind.