Adult patient with enteric intussusception in the emergency department

Abstract

Acute abdominal pain in adults is a quite common presentation to emergency departments (EDs) with a broad differential diagnosis. Intussusception in adults is rare, so a high index of suspicion is required to consider it as a differential diagnosis. The most common site of an adult's intussusception is the small bowel, most commonly due to a well-defined lesion resulting in a lead point. CT abdominal scan is the definitive investigation of choice, leading to prompt diagnosis and early definitive surgical treatment.We present a case of a woman in her 30s, with a previous laparoscopic partial gastrectomy, who presented to our ED with acute onset of abdominal pain associated with dry retching. Her abdominopelvic CT scan showed small bowel obstruction due to enteric intussusception. She underwent an urgent exploratory laparotomy with manual reduction of the intussusception with no adverse immediate postoperative outcomes due to early diagnosis and management.

Keywords: Emergency medicine; Gastrointestinal surgery; Pain; Radiology.