[Spontaneous gastrocolic fistula in stomach ulcer]

Spontaneous development of a gastrocolic fistula following a benign unoperated gastric ulcer is a rare complication. This complication seems to occur more frequently, however, as a side-effect of increased use of anti-inflammatory medication. A 61-year-old woman developed abdominal pain and diarrhoea, and lost weight, after several years of treatment with indomethacin. During diagnostic endoscopy the gastroscope unexpectedly passed to the transverse colon through a relatively large ulcerous gastrocolic fistula. The patient was successfully treated by en bloc resection of the stomach and transverse colon.