Small Bowel Obstruction Caused by Ileal Endometriosis with Appendiceal and Lymph Node Involvement Treated with Single-Incision Laparoscopic Surgery: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is an ectopic proliferation of endometrial glands and interstitium outside the uterus. It usually affects the organs surrounding the uterus, and less often, involvement of extrapelvic organs, such as the intestines and urinary tract, is observed.
CASE REPORT: A 40-year-old woman had been experiencing intermittent right lower abdominal pain for years, which worsened months earlier. The patient was admitted for the worst pain ever accompanying nausea and vomiting. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed a heterogeneously enhanced lesion that measured approximately 50×25×35 mm, and a caliber change of the ileum at the same site with dilated small bowel proximal to the caliber change were observed. Colonoscopy revealed that the ileocecal valve and the lumen of the terminal ileum protruded inward, suggesting an extramural compression by the lesion. Since the patient showed no improvement following conservative therapy, bowel resection through a single-incision laparoscopic surgery was successfully performed. Histopathological exploration showed patchy infiltration of endometrium-like tissues in the muscularis propria and subserosa layers of the ileum and appendix. Moreover, nearby lymph nodes resected for their firmness showed similar findings.
CONCLUSIONS: We report a case of recurrent intestinal obstruction due to ileal and appendiceal endometriosis with lymph node involvement, which was successfully treated by single-incision laparoscopic surgery. Careful follow-up is important because the prognosis for the intestinal endometriosis with lymph node involvement is still unclear.

Keywords: Endometriosis, Intestinal Obstruction, Laparoscopy