Segmental Infarction of Omentum - A Case Report

Idiopathic or spontaneous segmental infarction of omentum is a rare disease producing acute abdominal emergency. This rare entity is in a small group of abdominal emergencies with circulatory compromise. Infarction could be caused by omental torsion which could be due to adhesion of a previouse surgery or it could be spontaneous. Less than 150 cases of idiopathic segmental infarction of omentum has been reported since it was first reported about hundred years ago. The importance of this abdominal emergency lies ion differential diagnosis of acute appendecitis because its defenitive diagnosis is made only after laparotomy. In these cases the appendix is normal and besides an amount of serosanguinous fluid in the peritoneal cavity, a segment of omentum is infarcted. A case of idiopathic segmental infarction is reported in a 37-year-old heavy weigh male. The suggested procedure is appendectomy and segmental resection of the necrotic piece of omentum. In this case no adhesion or torsion of omentum was present.