An Unusual Cause of Intestinal Intussusception in an Old Patient: Inflammatory Fibroid Polyp

Inflammatory Fibroid Polyp (IFP) is a rare and uncommon benign lesion that originates in the submucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. Its clinical symptoms are heterogenous and depend on the location and size of the tumor. Inflammatory fibroid polyps are one of the rare benign conditions leading to intestinal intussusception in adults.

A 76-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with acute abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea and failure in defecation and gas passing. Physical examination revealed abdominal distension. Abdominal X-ray showed dilated small bowel segments with air-fluid levels. Operative finding was an ileo-ileal intussusception due to a mass lesion at 40 cm proximal to the cecum. Intussusception was spontaneously reduced during exploration and a wedge resection was performed for the affected bowel segment. Histopathologic examination showed the mass to be an inflammatory fibroid polyp. About 4 days after the operation, the patient was discharged from the hospital and there was no particular problem during the 6 month follow up.

Although IFP is an extremely rare cause of small intestine obstruction, it should be taken into consideration in patients with obstruction.