Small bowel obstruction by enterolith in an elderly woman: a case study

Abstract

          Enteroliths are intraluminal calculi formed in the small bowel, commonly caused by chronic intestinal constipation associated with other comorbidities. We describe an atypical case of enterolithiasis diagnosed with computed tomography scan (CT) and which was confirmed during subsequent surgical resection. A 66-year-old female patient had a history of chronic constipation and use of laxatives and presented with abdominal pain. A CT scan showed heterogeneous annular formations with a hyperdense halo and a hypodense center within the loops of small bowel. A segment was resected for enterectomy, allowing several yellowish stony structures to be identified, corresponding to enteroliths.