A Rare Phenomenon of Stercoral Ileal Perforation in a Pregnant Woman

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 15; no. 7; p. e41529
• Main Authors: Das, Snehasis, Prakash, Sagar, Sunil, Julia, Shaikh, Oseen, Balasubramanian, Gopal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cureus Inc 07-07-2023; Cureus
• Subjects: Abdomen; Appendicitis; Appendix; Blood; Comorbidity; Developing countries; Emergency Medicine; Family/General Practice; Feces; Fetuses; General Surgery; Inflammatory bowel disease; LDCs; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mortality; Ostomy; Patients; Peritonitis; Pregnancy; Small intestine; Typhoid; Vomiting; impacted fecolith; transmural necrosis; ileal perforation; peritonitis; stercoral ulcer
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.41529

Perforation peritonitis is one of the most common emergency presentations in Indian hospitals. Stercoral perforations are rare due to increased intraluminal pressure on the gut wall from impacted feces. This is associated with transmural necrosis. We present a 31-year-old pregnant woman who reported abdominal pain and vomiting at 34 weeks of gestation. The diagnosis was unclear from examination and imaging studies, and a provisional diagnosis of acute appendicitis was made. The patient underwent laparotomy and was found to have fecal contamination and multiple stercoral ileal perforations. The bowel segment was resected and exteriorized as a stoma.