Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding is a surgical enigma of disastrous proportions. Patient’s haemodynamic status often dictates the path of management ranging from endoscopy, embolization and/or surgery. Minority of the cases has failed to identify the exact source of bleeding during endoscopic and imaging techniques. Emergency surgery is warranted in hypovolaemic shock which has failed to respond to fluid and blood resuscitation. We present a 72-year-old male with an obscure upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to ruptured cystic artery pseudoaneurysm and illustrate the rarity of the presentation with successful management.
Colonic lipomatosis is relatively a rare tumour of mesenchymal origin, composed of welldifferentiated adipocytes interlaced by fibrous tissues. A 59-year-old lady presented with right iliac fossa pain with positive rebound tenderness, Rovsing’s and obturator signs. Investigation revealed marked leucocytosis suggestive of an acute appendicitis. Diagnostic laparoscopy revealed an inflamed appendix with concomitant caecal mass suspecting of a malignancy. Laparoscopic right hemicolectomy was proceeded following oncologic resection. However, final histopathologic examination was consistent with caecal colonic lipomatosis with concomitant acute appendicitis. Hereby, dual pathologies can be elicited in an acute abdomen.Keywords: acute abdomen, acute appendicitis, colonic lipomatosis.
The CECT scan of the abdomen at axial and coronal views show gas bubbles tracking along the inner wall of the ascending colon and hepatic flexure, which is separated from the intraluminal gas within the bowel. These intramural gas bubbles appear to be outlining the bowel wall circumferentially. The bowel wall appears to be thickened however the inner mucosa is not enhanced. There are no ascites in the images provided. The colon of the hepatic flexure and transverse colon appears dilated. No significant atherosclerotic plaque in the visualised arteries. Based on the clinical presentations and CECT features in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the best diagnosis for him is benign pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) secondary to obstructed low rectal cancer. He was subjected for a trephine transverse colostomy to relieve the obstruction with simultaneous transanal rectal mass biopsy. Once the histology is available, he subsequently will be referred for concurrent chemo-radiotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment and later for a low anterior resection, provided that it is a localized disease.
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