Small bowel obstruction secondary to intestinal schistosomiasis

Lamyman, Michael J.; Noble, Douglas J.; Narang, Sunil; Dehalvi, Najam

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.10.013

« Previous Next »Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 100, Issue 9 , Pages 885-887, September 2006

Small bowel obstruction secondary to intestinal schistosomiasis

Department of General Surgery, Horton Hospital, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford Road, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX16 9AL, UK

Received 24 August 2005; received in revised form 19 October 2005; accepted 20 October 2005.

Summary

Intestinal obstruction caused by chronic schistosomiasis infection is rare, with only 12 previously recorded cases in the literature. We report the first recorded case presenting to a European hospital. A 36-year-old Caucasian man, who was born and lived in the UK, presented with small bowel obstruction. He had visited China and Indonesia 8 years previously. At laparotomy, there was an obstructing inflammatory mass close to the ileocaecal junction and several small bowel strictures. Initially he was thought to have Crohn's disease. However, subsequent histology diagnosed intestinal schistosomiasis.

Keywords: Schistosomiasis, Schistosoma japonicum, Small bowel obstruction