Spontaneous cecal perforation in a 40-year-old pregnant woman treated by primary repair and omental patch: a case report

Spontaneous Cecal Perforation During Pregnancy

Spontaneous perforation of the colon is a rare disease defined as sudden perforation of a healthy colon without evidence of trauma or disease. These perforations are typically classified as either stercoral or idiopathic. Cecal perforation during pregnancy is an uncommon and potentially life-threatening condition requiring prompt recognition and surgical intervention. We present a case of a 33-year-old woman at 29 weeks and three days gestation presenting with spontaneous cecal perforation. She presented to the emergency department with diffuse abdominal pain and distention lasting for three days, associated with nausea and vomiting. Following evaluation, she was diagnosed with diffuse peritonitis. The diagnosis of this condition relies on both the clinical presentation and the utilization of radiographic imaging. The patient underwent an emergent explorative laparotomy with prompt surgical intervention to repair the 1.2 x 0.8 cm perforation found on her distended cecum. The surgical repair consisted of the excision of the edges and the primary suture of the perforation with an omental patch. Her post-procedure course was uneventful, and she later delivered a healthy baby at full term. This case highlights the importance of considering uncommon causes of acute abdominal pain in pregnant women to ensure timely diagnosis and management.

Bowel obstruction and perforation during pregnancy: Case report and literature review

OBJECTIVE

Bowel perforation during pregnancy is a rare but life-threatening situation, and the management remained uncertain. We presented a case in our hospital and reviewed literatures to provide a guidance to deal with this challenging situation.

CASE REPORT

A case at gestational age 26 weeks and 4 days, who had bowel perforation over previous ileo-colonic anastomosis site. The fetus was delivered via cesarean section after 1 week of operation and both were discharged without major complication at 35 days after delivery. We searched Pubmed and reviewed 15 English literatures and make a discussion.

CONCLUSION

A simultaneous cesarean section could be considered if the gestational age was large enough to avoid the comorbidity of preterm birth or the maternal risk of sepsis outweigh the risk of preterm birth. Otherwise, tocolysis should be used in an attempt to delay delivery until the antenatal corticosteroids have worked.

Idiopathic spontaneous cecal perforation: A rare pathology with high mortality

Introduction

Spontaneous perforation of the colon (SPC) is a rare disease characterized by sudden perforation of a clinically healthy colon in the absence of underlying disease or trauma. The aim of reporting this case is to highlight this surgical emergency in terms of clinical presentations, surgical management and outcomes.

Presentation of case

A 68 year-old male with history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic constipation on daily laxatives presented to the emergency department with a diffuse abdominal pain and distention for 4 days associated with vomiting and absence of defecation where he was prescribed phosphate rectal enemas. Patient was in sepsis with generalized abdominal tenderness and distention. Intraoperative findings of feculent peritonitis with isolated cecal perforation was identified, for which a right hemicolectomy with end ileostomy was performed.

Discussion

The first case was described in a woman presented with spontaneous rectum rupture by Brodie in 1827, with a less than 100 cases being reported in literature. In 1984, spontaneous perforations were classified into either "stercoral" or "idiopathic" perforations. More than 60% of colonic perforations were reported in the sigmoid or at the recto-sigmoid junction, mainly at the anti-mesenteric border, making spontaneous cecal perforation a very uncommon condition. Cecal perforation is associated with high mortality in the range of 30%-72%.

Conclusion

The outcome of SPC depends on multiple factors like onset of perforation, peritoneal contamination, and time of intervention. Regardless the surgical technique, early detection and surgical management are the main strategies associated with improving the outcomes.

Spontaneous colonic perforation in adults: Evaluation of a pooled case series

Spontaneous colonic perforation in adults (SCPA) is rare but important. Its clinicopathological features and outcomes remain unclear. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore and investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, clinical outcomes and potential risk factors for patients with SCPA. Data of seven patients with SCPA treated in our hospitals from January 2008 to December 2017, and 221 cases from research databases before 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The description of SCPA included stercoral perforation of the colon (SPC), idiopathic perforation of the colon (IPC) and spontaneous colonic perforation (SCP) in the study. All SCPA patients presented with unexplained abdominal pain and peritonitis. The median age was 62.5 years. The definite diagnosis preoperatively was 20.6%. The commonest lesion location was sigmoid colon and Hartmann's operation accounted for 59.3%. Histopathology of stercoral perforation (HSP) and histopathology of idiopathic perforation (HIP) were two histopathological findings. Postoperative complication was 67.7% and mortality was 31.1%. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that chronic constipation was an independent risk factor for histopathological features (p ≤ 0.001, p = 0.005). Age of patients was associated with both postoperative complication (p = 0.012, p = 0.044) and mortality (p = 0.013, p = 0.034). Univariate analysis showed that HSP was associated with postoperative complication (p = 0.015). Our findings from the analysis pertaining to SCPA confirm those from previous studies, supporting the SCPA, as a uniform description, is an infrequent and life-threatening disease requiring early surgical intervention. We found that the elderly with chronic constipation was a high-risk category and those with HIP had a more favorable outcome than that of patients with HSP.