Crohn’s disease complicated by multiple stenoses and internal fistulas clinically mimicking small bowel endometriosis

Zafer Teke, Faruk Onder Aytekin, Faruk Önder Aytekin, Ali Ozgur Atalay, Nese Calli Demirkan, Neşe Çallı Demirkan
World journal of gastroenterology · 2008 · vol. 14(1) , pp. 146 · doi:10.3748/wjg.14.146 · PMID:18176980 · W2157761200
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This case report details a patient with Crohn's disease presenting with stenoses and fistulas that mimicked small bowel endometriosis due to cyclical obstructive symptoms.

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Abstract

We report a 31-year-old woman with Crohn's disease complicated by multiple stenoses and internal fistulas clinically misdiagnosed as small bowel endometriosis, due to the patient's perimenstrual symptoms of mechanical subileus for 3 years; at first monthly, but later continuous, and gradually increasing in severity. We performed an exploratory laparotomy for small bowel obstruction, and found multiple ileal strictures and internal enteric fistulas. Because intraoperative findings were thought to indicate Crohn's disease, a right hemicolectomy and partial distal ileum resection were performed for obstructive Crohn's ileitis. Histopathology of the resected specimen revealed Crohn's disease without endometrial tissue. The patient made an uneventful recovery from this procedure and was discharged home 10 d post-operatively. The differential diagnosis of Crohn's disease with intestinal endometriosis may be difficult pre-operatively. The two entities share many overlapping clinical, radiological and pathological features. Nevertheless, when it is difficult to identify the cause of intestinal obstruction in a woman of child-bearing age with cyclical symptoms suggestive of small bowel endometriosis, Crohn's disease should be included in the differential diagnosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisbowel_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Crohn Disease Crohn Disease Endometriosis Intestinal Fistula Intestinal Fistula Adult Constriction, Pathologic Crohn Disease Diagnosis, Differential Endometriosis Female Humans Intestinal Fistula Intestinal Obstruction Intestinal Obstruction Intestinal Obstruction Intestine, Small

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (35)

Cited by (25)

Source provenance

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK