Intestinal barotrauma after diving--mechanical ileus in incarceration of the last loop of the small intestine between a mobile cecum and sigmoid

• Published in: Swiss surgery Vol. 9; no. 4; p. 181
• Main Authors: Haller, C, Guenot, C, Azagury, D, Rosso, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: Switzerland 2003
• Subjects: Barotrauma - diagnostic imaging; Barotrauma - etiology; Barotrauma - surgery; Cecum - abnormalities; Cecum - diagnostic imaging; Cecum - surgery; Colon, Sigmoid - diagnostic imaging; Colon, Sigmoid - surgery; Diagnosis, Differential; Dilatation, Pathologic - diagnostic imaging; Dilatation, Pathologic - etiology; Dilatation, Pathologic - surgery; Diving - adverse effects; Humans; Ileal Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Ileal Diseases - etiology; Ileal Diseases - surgery; Ileum - diagnostic imaging; Ileum - injuries; Ileus - diagnostic imaging; Ileus - etiology; Ileus - surgery; Male; Middle Aged; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 1023-9332

A few hours after a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) dive at 30 meters depth, a 49 years-old man complained of diffuse abdominal pain with nausea and vomitus. A laparotomy was performed 36 hours after a conservative treatment because of persistent mechanical small bowel obstruction. The last ileal loop was strangulated between a mobile ceacum and a long sigmoid loop. The man never had previous abdominal surgery. In absence of intestinal necrosis, a caecopexy was done and there was no post-operative complications. The gas distension during the ascension following the Boyle-Mariotte law and its distribution induced in this man with a special anatomy a mechanical small bowel obstruction. The treatment of mobile caecum and the literature of abdominal barotrauma is reviewed.