Abdominal cocoon in a man: preoperative diagnosis and literature review

Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis, or abdominal cocoon, is a relatively rare cause of intestinal obstruction, described mostly in young adolescent girls. It is characterized by a thick fibrotic peritoneum that wraps the bowel in a concertinalike fashion with some adhesions. Because of its peculiar characteristics, this condition presents many difficulties in preoperative diagnosis. Recognition of the entity results in proper management and prevents unnecessary bowel resection. We report a man with intermittent intestinal obstruction and an abdominal cocoon encasing the small bowel that was diagnosed preoperatively by radiology. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the fourth male patient reported in the medical literature to develop this condition. We briefly review the literature and discuss the preoperative diagnosis and management of sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis.