A case of intermittent bleeding Meckel's diverticulum

Abstract

The initial technetium-99m pertechnetate abdominal scintigraphy revealed equivocal or normal results. However, a second scintigraphy without pentagastrin demonstrated a focal area of persistently increasing radioactivity in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. At surgery, Meckel's diverticulum was confirmed, and histological examination of the excised specimen revealed that it was lined with ectopic gastric mucosa. It has not been satisfactorily explained why the initial imaging failed to demonstrate the ectopic gastric mucosa. The necessity to perform repeated scintigraphy must be emphasized because 50 to 91 percent of bleeding Meckel's diverticula in the pediatric age group are said to contain gastric mucosa.