title: [A case of ileus caused by a fecalith in an elderly patient with severe dementia].
abstract: An 82-year-old woman with severe dementia, living in a nursing home, had severe chronic constipation, possibly due to the presence of multiple risk factors for constipation such as a past history of abdominal open surgery, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and bedridden status. She visited our department accompanied by nursing staff with complaints of nausea and vomiting. Abdominal X-ray films and computed tomography (CT) images showed ileus. We diagnosed strangulation ileus, and performed an emergency laparotomy. There was a mobile cystic lesion located 180 cm from the ileocecal junction which was causing the intestinal obstruction. The cystic lesion was surgically removed via an enterotomy. The greatest dimensions of the cystic lesion were 5 × 3 cm, and it was histologically diagnosed as a fecalith. We report a rare case of ileus caused by a fecalith in an elderly patient.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine, Nippon Medical School.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Misako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekimizu
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Futami
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Yoshimasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Igari
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oba
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications*; D005244:Fecal Impaction / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D045823:Ileus / Q000209:etiology*