A case of intestinal obstruction due to phytobezoar--an alternative surgical approach.

Abstract

We report a 5-year-old patient with phytobezoar mimicking acute appendicitis preoperatively. During laparotomy, it was detected that terminal ileum was obstructed by several fragments of rubbery material. Bezoar was milked into the large bowel, and phytobezoar including tangerine residues was evacuated via appendix stump because of severe distended cecum, and high risk of the anastomotic leakage and intraperitoneal contamination following enterotomy of the inflamated and ischemic ileum. Postoperative course was uneventful. To date, such a procedure has not been described. We suggest that milking of vegetable fibers into the cecum and then emptying via appendix stump may be an alternative treatment of phytobezoar localizing in terminal ileum.