Jejunal torsion around the right ureter presenting as postoperative bowel obstruction: a case report

Since abdominal radical hysterectomy was first described by Clark and Reis in 1895, it has been commonly used in the primary surgical treatment of carcinoma of the cervix. We report the case of a 45-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a small bowel obstruction due to jejunal torsion to her right ureter mimicking postoperative adhesion ileus.

A 45-year-old Turkish woman was admitted to our emergency department with complaints of abdominal pain, constipation, nausea and vomiting. She had undergone an abdominal radical hysterectomy for cervical carcinoma three years earlier. Computed tomography scans revealed intestinal dilatation, a large amount of free fluid in the abdominal cavity and an area suspicious for jejunal perforation. Because of these radiological findings suggestive of obstruction and bowel ischemia, our patient underwent emergency surgery. Operative findings that showed a jejunal segment was turned around her right ureter so that it was mimicking a fibrous band.

In this current case, we present the first determined complication of radical hysterectomy. According to our case report, surgical oncologists should be aware of this complication and review the surgical technique. It is considered that readaptation of the dorsolateral peritoneal layer after extended pelvic lymph node dissection resulted in fewer complications.