Medical Image of the Month: Stercoral Colitis

Abstract

No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. A 78-year-old- man with cerebral palsy requiring an in-home caregiver presented to the emergency room in hypovolemic shock post-sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of hematemesis. The caregiver noticed the patient become unresponsive after having one episode of bright red emesis. EMS arrived and found the patient to be pulseless and performed three rounds of CPR and gave 1 mg of epinephrine before return of spontaneous circulation was obtained. The caregiver reported the patient had been complaining of diarrhea for the past few days after being started on magnesium citrate for constipation by his PCP. In the ED patient was intubated, sedated, and started on pressors due to undifferentiated shock. CT abdomen pelvis demonstrated diffuse dilation of the colon with massive stool burden and markedly distended rectum with impacted stool and circumferential rectal wall thickening consistent with stercoral colitis (Figures 1 and 2). In addition, there was a large hiatal …