Rapunzel Syndrome in a 3-Year-Old Boy: A Menace too Early to Present

Rapunzel syndrome is a rare type of trichobezoar with an extension of the hair into the small bowel. Clinical presentation is deceptive and vague, ranging from asymptomatic abdominal mass to gastrointestinal perforation. There are only few cases reported in literature, with the youngest age being 3 years. We present the case of a 3-year-old male child presenting with Rapunzel syndrome and features of subacute intestinal obstruction.

Rapunzel syndrome in a seven year old female

Rapunzel syndrome is characterized by gastric trichobezoar with extension beyond pylorus. Seven year old female presented with chronic pain abdomen and loss of appetite. Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy showed large trichobezoar in the stomach with its tail extending into proximal duodenum. Child underwent exploratory laparotomy and a large trichobezoar measuring 15 cm was removed. Psychiatric opinion revealed that the child was suffering from `trichotillomania`; an obsessive compulsive disorder. UGI endoscopy is the preferred modality for diagnosis, as it delineates the mass and its extent. Small bezoars can be extracted via endoscopy using various disintegrating techniques but large bezoars need surgical management.

Rapunzel Loves Merida: Melodramatic Expressions of Lesbian Girlhood and Teen Romance in Tangled, Brave, and Femslash

This article explores the melodramatic expression of lesbian girlhood and teen romance in Disney's Tangled (2010) and Disney Pixar's Brave (2012), as well as "Meripunzel" femslash, fan-authored romantic pairings of the animations' female protagonists. First, Anne Sexton's poem, "Rapunzel," offers a literary precedent for exploring lesbian themes in the fairy tale. The next section shows how Tangled and Brave invoke the narrative conventions of the family melodrama. This generic association reveals the films' uses of rhetoric familiar to youth coming-out narratives, as well as other visual and aural coding suggestive of queer styles. The last section shows how Meripunzel femslash taps into the films' existing melodramatic narrative forms and visual aesthetics, rehearsing their coming-out rhetoric while addressing the pleasures of and problems facing lesbian teen romance. I conclude by problematizing the often conventional expressions of lesbian girlhood in femslash, ultimately arguing for their empowering potential, especially as they indicate revised definitions of "princess."

An unusual case report of rapunzel syndrome trichobezoar in a 3-year-old boy

Rapunzel Syndrome is a rare trichobezoar, involving strands of swallowed hair extending as a tail through the duodenum, beyond the stomach. Trichobezoar usually occur in patients with history of trichotillomania, characterized by compulsive behavioral disorder of pulling own hairs, combined with trichophagia that consists of ingesting that hairs. It typically occurs in stomach and rarely affects the small intestine. Trichobezoars are more common in adolescent females. Common presentation is gastrointestinal tract obstruction with nausea and vomiting, gut perforation, acute pancreatic necrosis, obstructive jaundice, hypochromic anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency, weight loss, an abdominal mass, or other serious problems. Intestinal obstruction due to trichobezoar is extremely rare. We are here reporting a large trichobezoar in a 3-year-old male child who presented to the emergency department with thread protruding from mouth with no sign of hair loss on body.

A Giant Trichobezoar Causing Rapunzel Syndrome in a 12-year-old Female

Bezoar is a tightly packed collection of undigested material that is unable to exit the stomach. Most bezoars are of indigestible organic matter such as hair-trichobezoars; or vegetable and fruit-phytobezoars; or a combination of both. Trichobezoars commonly occur in patients with psychiatric disturbances who chew and swallow their own hair. In very rare cases, the Rapunzel syndrome hair extends through the pylorus into the small bowel causing symptom and sign of partial or complete gastric outlet obstruction. A case report of trichobezoar in the stomach causing Rapunzel syndrome in a 12-year-old female is reported.