Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with recurrent vomiting - could it be adhesions?
By Jin L & Naidu K.·2023·Department of General Surgery, Australia·View original on Europe PMC →
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Original publication title: When you hear hoofbeats, think horses before zebras - a case of recurrent small bowel obstructions with a twist.
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This case involves an 84-year-old man who was admitted to the hospital because he kept having blockages in his small intestine, which caused him a lot of abdominal pain. Initially, doctors thought the problem was due to his heart device moving into the wrong place inside his body, but they later discovered that the real issue was actually adhesions, which are bands of scar tissue that can cause blockages. This situation highlights the importance of considering common causes first before jumping to rare possibilities. The treatment focused on addressing the adhesions, and ultimately, this approach was successful in resolving the man's issues.
Abstract
Mechanical small bowel obstructions (SBOs) account for a considerable proportion of hospital admissions for acute abdominal pain. SBOs are most frequently caused by adhesions; and very few SBOs are associated with intraperitoneal devices. An 84-year-old man was admitted to our tertiary institution with recurrent SBOs that were initially believed to be caused by his implantable cardioverter defibrillator which had undergone intraperitoneal migration. However, this was later found to be a misguided 'zebra'; as the cause was revealed to be a common 'horse' - adhesions. This article shares our key learnings from this diagnostic dilemma.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/37846413