A giant peritoneal loose body: report of a case

Abstract

Peritoneal loose bodies are usually small, 0.5 to 2.5 cm in diameter, and rarely cause symptoms. However, "giant" peritoneal loose bodies, larger than 5 cm in diameter, presenting with various symptoms have been also reported. We report here a case of a "giant" peritoneal loose body found in a 73-year-old man. In this case, the peritoneal loose body was 9.5 cm in diameter, comparable to the largest one reported in the literature. The patient refused any treatment at his first visit but accepted surgical removal of the peritoneal loose body 5 years later. The size of the peritoneal loose body has increased from 7.3 cm to 9.5 cm in diameter during this observation period.