An 85 year old man presented to the department of General Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, PR China, in September 2012, with abdominal pain, which had intermittently attacked in the past half year. Plain abdominal X-ray demonstrated distension of small bowel and multiple air-fluid levels (Fig. 1). Computed tomography scan showed small-bowel dilatation and bowel wall thickening (Fig. 2). The patient was admitted to the department of gastrointestinal surgery with a diagnosis of intestinal obstruction. After initial conservative measures were unsuccessful in evacuating the obstruction, exploratory laparotomy was performed. Intraoperative abdominal exploration revealed bowel wall thickening with multiple jejunal diverticula involving approximately 150 cm of jejunum (Fig. 3). A 150 cm jejunal resection and an end-to-end anastomosis were carried out. The patient had complete recovery without any complications on a 12-month follow up.
Fig. 1.
Plain abdominal X-ray demonstrates distension of small bowel and multiple air-fluid levels (arrow).
Fig. 2.
Computed tomography scan showing small-bowel dilatation and bowel wall thickening (arrow).
Fig. 3.
Intraoperative findings: bowel wall thickening (small arrow), multiple jejunal diverticula (large arrow).