Acute Colonic Pseudo-obstruction Mimicking Colon Cancer on CT: a case report

摘要

A 45-year-old female patient presented with severe abdominal pain and nausea for one day. Radiograph of the kidney, ureter, and bladder (KUB) revealed marked distension of the feces-filled bowel loop in the right lower abdomen. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) findings revealed a short segmental wall thickening and luminal narrowing at the hepatic flexure of the colon, marked distension and markedly thin walls of the ascending colon and cecum (maximum cecal diameter, 10.2 cm), and partially collapsed distal colonic loop. Provisional diagnosis of colonic obstruction with colon tumor, possibly cancer, was made based on the CT findings. Emergency lapa-rotomy revealed marked distension of the ascending colon and cecum, along with a serosal tear; however, no obstructive lesion or adhesion band was found. Therefore, a final diagnosis was made of acute colonic pseudo-obstruction. Our findings indicate that acute colonic pseudo-obstruction might be mistaken for colon tumor on CT images.