Small bowel bezoar in a patient with Noonan syndrome: report of a case

Bezoars occur most commonly in patients with impaired gastrointestinal motility or a history of gastric surgery. Noonan syndrome is associated with gastrointestinal dysfunction and feeding difficulties in children. We report the case of a 64-year-old man with Noonan syndrome who was admitted to the hospital with a small bowel obstruction. An emergency laparotomy was performed and the patient was found to have a phytobezoar of the ileum that had caused edema of the intestinal wall resulting in the obstruction.

A review of the literature was performed with PubMed using the keywords "Noonan syndrome, " "bezoars, " and "phytobezoar. " Although problems with gastrointestinal motility in Noonan syndrome appear to improve with age, it is conceivable that in this case, abnormal gastrointestinal motility may have predisposed the patient to this condition.

Bezoars are an uncommon but notable cause of small bowel obstruction. This is the first case of a bezoar in a patient with Noonan syndrome reported in the English literature.