[Ileocolic invagination in adults. The sonographic characteristics]

An 86-year-old man was admitted to hospital because of transitory cramp-like abdominal pain of 6 days' duration. Immediately preceding admission he had suffered a short episode of vomiting and diarrhoea. There was no history of previous abdominal operation. On examination there were signs of incomplete mechanical ileus. Ultrasonography revealed an abnormal cockade with triple ring phenomenon at the ileocaecal junction and the "duck-beak phenomenon" as signs of enterocolic intussusception. Immediate laparotomy demonstrated a submucous lipoma of the terminal ileus as its cause.--If there is clinical suspicion of intussusception, even in the presence of atypical abdominal symptoms, ultrasonography is the procedure of choice to provide rapid diagnosis. In adults treatment is always surgical.