Idiopathic sclerosing peritonitis in a man

Idiopathic sclerosing peritonitis (ISP) is a rare condition which has been mainly reported in young adolescent women as a cause of small bowel obstruction. In these patients the small bowel is sometimes encased in a fibrous sac called an "abdominal cocoon". We describe a 62-year-old man who underwent exploratory laparotomy for ascites and abdominal mass. Laparotomy showed 5.4 l of ascites and the entire small bowel was encased in a fibrous sausage-like cocoon. The pathological findings were characteristic of sclerosing peritonitis.