[Intestinal trichobezoar as a cause of small bowel obstruction. Case report and review of the literature].

BACKGROUND

The trichobezoars are conglomerates of hair ingested by a person. They are located in the stomach, although they can extend also to the small bowel. They are common in children and adolescents, and 90% of the patients are women. An occasional complication is mechanical obstruction, usually at the gastric level or in the small bowel. It is extremely rare to find trichobezoars in the small bowel without a gastric component.

CASE REPORT: A 18 year-old female patient was admitted for small bowel obstruction. Three weeks before she had underwent appendectomy. Laparotomy was performed identifying three trichobezoars occluding the jejune, without evidence of gastric bezoars. The bezoars were extracted by enterotomy. No post-operatory complications were presented.

CONCLUSIONS

Trichobezoars are a rare entity that may be complicated by bowel obstruction. The discovery of trichobezoars in the bowel may be due to primary formation, which is improbable, or to fragmentation in the stomach followed by migration of the fragments, which in the case presented could be favored by the patient's previous operation.