A rare cause of acute abdomen: jejunal diverticulosis with perforation

Small bowel diverticula in elderly patients: a case report and review article

Background

Small intestine diverticula are rare findings that were mostly reported in the elderly population as asymptomatic findings. However, they can also present with a wide range of symptoms (bloating, early satiety, chronic abdominal discomfort, and diarrhea/steatorrhea) or complications (gastrointestinal bleeding, small bowel obstruction, acute diverticulitis, or perforation) which in turn warrant medical treatment or urgent surgical intervention.

Case presentation

This is a case report of an 84-year-old female who presented with an acute surgical abdomen. An exploratory laparotomy revealed complicated small bowel diverticula with a jejunal diverticulum perforation, for which a diverticulectomy was performed.

Conclusions

Throughout this paper, we are aiming to outweigh the consideration of the possibility of complicated small bowel diverticula as a differential in the evaluation of any acute abdomen, especially in the elderly, which warrants emergency surgical management.

Rare aetiology of abdominal pain: contained abscess secondary to perforated jejunal diverticulitis

A patient with a history of multiple jejunal diverticulosis (JD) presented with a non-peritonitic abdominal pain and leucocytosis. CT scan showed a thick-walled interloop collection within the left mid-abdomen with dilated bowels and mild diffuse air-fluid levels. Exploratory laparotomy revealed multiple diverticular outpouchings in the mid-jejunum, one of which was perforated, contained within the mesentery. Resection of the contained abscess and primary anastomosis were performed subsequently.

Perforated jejunal diverticulitis: a rare but important differential in the acute abdomen

BACKGROUND

Diverticulosis of the small bowel is rare and, in most cases, discovered incidentally. However, diverticulitis and other complications are important to consider in the differential of an acute abdomen, especially in the elderly population.

CASE PRESENTATION

The patient was a 59-year-old female who presented with acute lower abdominal pain progressing to peritonitis. Computed tomography scan showed a large inflamed and perforated diverticulum on the mesenteric side of the jejunum. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a dilated proximal jejunum with a 5-cm inflamed and perforated mesenteric diverticulum. A small bowel resection with primary anastomosis was performed.

CONCLUSIONS

Jejunal diverticulitis remains a diagnostic challenge. Although uncommon, owing to its high mortality rate, it is an important clinical entity to consider and requires timely management.

Jejunal pseudodiverticulosis. Three cases report

Jejunal pseudodiverticulosis is an uncommon entity. Pseudodiverticulum are usually asymptomatic and an incidental finding. They can have a less frequent acute onset with perforation, obstruction or bleeding and they could have high morbidity and mortality. We report three patients who debuted with an acute abdomen.

Complicated Jejunal Diverticulosis: Small Bowel Volvulus with Obstruction

The incidence of the diverticulum of the small bowel varies from 0.2-1.3% in autopsy studies to 2.3% when assessed on enteroclysis. It occurs mostly in patients in the 6^th decade of their life. Of all the small bowel diverticuli, jejunal diverticulum is the most common type. This rare entity is usually asymptomatic. However, they may cause chronic non-specific symptoms for a long period of time like dyspepsia, chronic postprandial pain, nausea, vomiting, borborgymi, alternating diarrhoea and constipation, weight loss, anaemia, steatorrhea or rarely lead to complications like haemorrhage, obstruction, perforation. Obstruction can be due to enterolith, adhesions, intussusception, and volvulus. The condition is difficult to diagnose because patients are generally presented with symptoms that mimic other diseases. It is important for clinicians to have awareness of this entity. Here, we present a case of multiple jejunal diverticuli with a history of repeated attacks of diverticulitis over past 20 years, which were misdiagnosed and now presented with intestinal obstruction due to volvulus of the involved segment along with mesentery around its axis. Resection of the diverticuli segment of jejunum was done with end-to-end jejuno-jejunal anastomosis. The patient is asymptomatic since 10 months of follow-up.