Transient small bowel intussusception in an adult: case report with intraoperative video and literature review

BACKGROUND: The term intussusception refers to invagination of a segment of the gastrointestinal tract into the lumen of an adjacent segment. This is a rare entity and it is more prevalent in children and less common in adults. The diagnosis of intussusception in adults is difficult as a result of the nonspecific signs and symptoms. As there are many common causes of acute abdomen, intussusception should be considered when more frequent etiologies have been ruled out. The laparoscopic approach offers both a diagnostic option and a therapeutic one for intussusception in adults. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a forty-one year old male patient, who presented to our Emergency Department complaining of peri-umbilical pain associated with nausea and vomiting for 1 day. Diagnosed with transient small bowel intussusception without any obvious underlying pathology. This report is the first to present an intra-operative video showing the small bowel intussuscepting and reducing spontaneously. Furthermore, the authors present a review about this rare condition, including previously reported similar cases in literature. CONCLUSION: Transient intussusception is extremely rare and is a challenging condition. Imaging techniques, especially CT scan, are helpful in the diagnosis of intussusception. However, laparoscopy offers the advantage of distinguishing transient intussusception from persistent intussusception. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12893-015-0020-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.