title: Intestinal obstruction by an enterolith from a perforated giant Meckel's diverticulum: diagnosis with CT reconstructed images.
abstract: Complications caused by Meckel's enteroliths are very rare. Diagnosis is not usually made before surgery because symptoms are often of little value and imaging may be difficult to interpret. Computed tomography (CT) scanning, which is increasingly performed in emergency situations, could help make the diagnosis. We describe a 37-year-old man with intestinal obstruction caused by an enterolith resulting from a giant Meckel's diverticulum. The diagnosis was suggested preoperatively through the use of abdominal CT scanning with reconstructed pictures. A resection of the small bowel and diverticulum was performed with immediate anastomosis. The postoperative course was uneventful. Diagnosis of enterolith from Meckel's diverticulum can be suggested by CT frontal reconstructed sections in patients with small bowel obstruction and abdominal calcified opacities. This procedure could reduce the delay between onset of symptoms and adequate treatment before perforation and peritonitis occur.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Assitance Publique-Hôspitaux de Paris, Pitié Hospital, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trésallet
authors.forename: Raphaëlle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Renard-Penna
authors.forename: Quang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Nguyen-Thanh
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cardot
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chigot
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Menegaux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002137:Calculi / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008467:Meckel Diverticulum / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed