Ileal angiodysplasia presentation as a bowel obstruction: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Angiodysplasia is a common vascular abnormality of the gastrointestinal tract, found in the elderly and most frequently revealed by gastrointestinal bleeding. We report an original case of ileal angiodysplasia in an 83-year-old woman presenting as a bowel obstruction. CASE PRESENTATION: An 83-year-old woman with a medical history of chronic untreated anemia, presented with cardinal symptoms of bowel obstruction. Computed tomography revealed diffuse ileal wall thickening with multiple zones of stenosis, which were aggravated by an ileal perforation and associated with vascular abnormalities compatible with angiodysplasia. Surgery confirmed the imaging findings. A large resection importing one meter of ileum was performed. The pathology report of the resected specimen revealed ischemic lesions of ileum associated with ileal angiodysplasia. The postoperative period was marked by an acute dehydration in the patient who died 3 weeks after surgery. DISCUSSION: Angiodysplastic lesions develop with aging due to chronic low-grade intermittent obstruction of submucosal veins. These lesions are the result of increased contractility at the level of muscularis propria, leading to congestion of the capillaries and failure of pre-capillary sphincters, resulting in the formation of small arteriovenous collaterals. The acquired arteriovenous malformation consisting of multiple shunts with rapid blood flow may result in inadequate oxygenation of a segment of the intestine and lead to ischemia and eventually wall thickening, stenosis and even perforation of the small bowel. CONCLUSION: Angiodysplasia should be kept in the back of one's mind as one of the causes of acute abdomen and bowel obstruction, especially in elderly people suffering from occult gastrointestinal bleeding.

Diaphragmatic hydatid disease: a diagnostic challenge for the radiologist.

Primitive hydatid disease of diaphragm is very rare. The preoperative diagnosis of this hydatid location represents a challenge for the radiologist. We reported a case of primitive hydatid cyst of the diaphragm not associated with other hydatid localizations which was diagnosed preoperatively. A 70 year-old woman with no previous medical history, complained of abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant for 7 months. The physical exam and the laboratory tests were unremarkable. Abdominal ultrasound showed multiloculated cystic lesion which appeared to be located in the hepatic dome suggestive of hydatid cyst of the liver.  However, computed tomography showed findings but in favour of the diaphragmatic origin of the cyst which was confirmed peroperatively. Since the exploration of cysts lying between the thorax and the abdomen is difficult by ultrasound, computed tomography with multiplanar reconstruction appears to be indispensable in the preoperative assessment of hydatid cysts in contact with the diaphragm.

Bilateral Orbital Metastasis of Prostatic Adenocarcinoma.

Despite the high incidence of prostate carcinoma, metastases of the uvea are very rare and bilateral localization is even more. We report here the case of a 77-year-old man diagnosed with a metastatic prostate carcinoma. Two months later, he presented a decreased vision in his right eye and blurred vision in the left eye relevant to metastatic lesion on his right iris and left choroidal metastasis. The urologist should evoke possibility of ocular metastasis in patients with prostate cancer presenting visual disorders.

Laparoscopic treatment of intestinal obstruction caused by an uncommon congenital band.

Congenital bands represent a rare cause of small bowel obstruction. We report a case of intestinal obstruction caused by an uncommon form of congenital band in a 16-year-old girl. The diagnosis was strongly evoked preoperatively by CT scan and the intestinal obstruction was successfully treated using a laparoscopic approach.