PICTURES IN DIGESTIVE PATHOLOGY

 

A bull horn fragment found on colonoscopy

 

 

Manuel Alfonso Jiménez-Moreno, Gadea Hontoria-Bautista and Federico Sáez-Royuela Gonzalo

Servicio de Aparato Digestivo. Hospital Universitario de Burgos. Burgos, Spain

 

 

Case report

An 81-year-old man with mild iron deficiency anemia (Hb 12 g/dl) and a positive fecal occult blood test was referred for a colonoscopy. The patient was asymptomatic and not undergoing any treatment. A foreign body that crossed the colonic lumen and prevented the colonoscope progression was identified at 40 cm from the anal verge via colonoscopy. The object seemed to be hard and fixed when manipulated with biopsy forceps. When the patient regained consciousness, he was asked about the nature of the foreign body. The patient mentioned a previous surgical intervention after being gored by a bull at the age of 17 years. Histopathology of the surrounding mucosa showed granulation tissue. A virtual colonoscopy examination identified a foreign body with calcium density in the sigmoid and no other colonic lesions. Due to the absence of symptoms, age and the fact that the patient refused surgical treatment, no further measures were taken. The nature of the foreign body was assumed to be a fragment of the bull horn that had been there for 64 years without producing symptoms.

 

 

References

1. Ramos J, Dean DE, Tarakji E, et al. Impacted foreign body in the sigmoid colon presenting as recurrent diverticulitis. Clin J Gastroenterol 2011;4(2):104-7. DOI: 10.1007/s12328-011-0212-2. Epub 2011 Mar.         [ Links ]

2. Eryilmaz M, Ozturk O, Mentes O, et al. Intracolonic multiple pebbles in young adults: Radiographic imaging and conventional approach to a case. World J Gastroenterol 2006;12(37):6074-6. DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i37.6074.         [ Links ]