Endometriosis of the terminal ileum: a diagnostic dilemma

Kerem Karaman1, Emel Ebru Pala, Umit Bayol

  • 1Department of Third General Surgery Clinic, Tepecik Teaching and Research Hospital, Gaziler Cad. Number: 468, Tepecik Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Yenisehir, 35110 Izmir, Turkey.

Case Reports in Pathology
|September 22, 2012
PubMed

Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue consisting of glands and/or stroma located outside the uterus. Involvement of the terminal ileum is extremely rare. Preoperative distinction of ileal endometriosis from other diseases of the ileocecal region is difficult in terms of clinical presentation, symptomatology, radiological appearance, and surgical and pathological findings. We report a case initially diagnosed as Crohn's disease due to a longstanding diarrhea with subsequent intestinal obstruction, but finally diagnosed as ileal endometriosis by histopathological evaluation after resection of the involved segment.

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