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Case Reports
. 2024 Feb 6;12(4):777-781.
doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i4.777.

Mechanical upper bowel obstruction caused by a large trichobezoar in a young woman: A very unusual case report

Magdalena Scherrer  1 , Peter Kornprat  1 , Robert Sucher  1 , Johanna Muehlsteiner  2 , Doris Wagner  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Mechanical upper bowel obstruction caused by a large trichobezoar in a young woman: A very unusual case report

Magdalena Scherrer et al. World J Clin Cases. .

Abstract

Background: Bezoars usually compile human fibers and debris. A special form of bezoar in case of psychologically altered individuals is the trichobezoar. It consists of voluntarily swallowed hair bulks and is normally removed via gastroscopy. Trichobezoars leading to ileus have rarely been reported.

Case summary: A 24-year-old female patient presented to the emergency room with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting for 3 d. Her previous medical and psychiatric history was unremarkable. Laboratory analysis showed iron deficiency anemia, leukocytosis, and elevated liver enzymes. An abdominal CT scan revealed a dense structure in the patients' stomach which turned out to be a huge trichobezoar completely obstructing the pylorus. The trichobezoar had to be removed surgically. During her postoperative course, a subcutaneous seroma formed. After a single puncture, the rest of the recovery process was unremarkable, and the patient recovered fully.

Conclusion: A mechanical bowel obstruction is a potentially life-threatening event for every patient. In our case a young female was suffering from severe symptoms of an obstruction which might have resulted in serious harm without successful surgical management.

Keywords: Bezoar; Case report; Gastroscopy; Hair ingestion; Rapunzel syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The listed authors - Magdalene Scherrer, Peter Kornprat, Robert Sucher, Johanna Mühlsteiner, and Doris Wagner - do not have any conflict of interests to disclose and did not receive any kind of funding and/or are currently not affiliated with any profit organization.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Computed tomography image showing the stomach with a dense structure in it (arrow).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Surgically opened stomach and fully extracted trichobezoar. A: Surgically opened stomach with manually extracted trichobezoar; B: Fully extracted trichobezoar.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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