Two Cases of Adult-Onset Intestinal Duplication Manifested as Acute Abdomen: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Gastrointestinal duplication is a rare congenital anomaly, usually occurring in childhood and rarely in adults. It is most common in the ileum, but can occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus. An adult case of intestinal duplication is accompanied by non-specific symptoms and, hence, it is often difficult to establish accurate diagnosis preoperatively in adults.

We experienced two cases of ileal duplication that was manifested as acute abdomen. In both cases, we performed emergency surgery with a tentative preoperative diagnosis of perforation peritonitis related to intestinal duplication. The first case was a 36-year-old male presenting with a cystic non-communicating intestinal duplication, which was perforated, causing abdominal pain. The second case was a 77-year-old male presenting with tubular communicating intestinal duplication, in which a fecal stone was fitted into the root of the duplicated intestine, and the duplicated intestine itself became abscessed, causing abdominal pain. Their postoperative courses were uneventful and the patients were discharged from hospital without any sequelae on the 5th and 10th postoperative day, respectively.

Although preoperative diagnosis is not easy, because the clinical presentation varies depending on the occurrence site, in-depth evaluation of preoperative CT images could lead to a precise diagnosis especially when considering intestinal duplication as one of the differential diagnoses of acute abdomen.