Intestinal Intussusception in Adults

Abstract

Acute intestinal intussusception is a pathology of infants and small children. Its occurrence in adults is very unusual. It is of various etiologies. In the vast majority of cases, it is secondary to a tumour which may be benign or malignant. A benign fibrous tumour of Meckel’s diverticulum revealed by intestinal intussusception is a very rare entity. We report the case of a 42-year-old female patient admitted to the emergency department of the Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech, Morocco, for an intestinal obstruction. Abdominal CT scan showed an acute ileocecal intestinal intussusception, associated with a tumor lesion of 25 cm in diameter. Treatment was open surgical carcinological resection. Pathological and immunohistochemical examination of the surgical specimen concluded that the tumour was benign Meckel’s diverticulum. Intestinal intussusception is a rare condition in adults. It most often leads to the discovery of an organic cause which may be tumour. From this new case and after analysis of the literature, we discuss the clinical and diagnostic characteristics and the therapeutic possibilities of this rare pathology.