[Ileal duplication: challenging differential diagnosis caused by a rare abnormality. Case report]

Gastrointestinal tract duplications (GSD) are rare congenital abnormalities. Eighty percent of GSDs are diagnosed before the age of two. These lesions can be seen anywhere from the oral cavity to the anus, but ileum is the most commonly affected site. Their clinical presentation is widely variable and unspecific, making the differential diagnosis really hard. Thus despite performing a long line of radiological scans, the diagnosis can be made during a surgery and by the pathologist. A 23-year-old female patient presented at the emergency room (ER) with abdominal cramps. Examinations revealed an unidentified intraabdominal mass. This could not been identified through the next years despite having tons of examinations: intravaginal and abdominal ultrasonographies, CT and MRI scans, colonoscopies, laparoscopies, surgical, gynecological and gastroenterological visits. Amongst the diagnoses were: ovarian cyst, bowel enlargement, Crohn's disease. Due to the latter, she received therapy which temporarily eased her symptoms. But after these, because of abdominal pain, fever and an ultrasonography that showed an intramural abscess in her abdomen, she went through a surgery having an ileocecal resection. Pathological examination showed a duplication of the ileum that might have caused her symptoms all through the years. Despite facing this rare abnormality, it is important to keep this in mind in differentiating abdominal symptoms. It is true that in no case there could be a diagnosis made without surgery, it raises attention to the importance of precise medical history taking and also cooperation between specialties. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(52): 2217-2221.