Case of the Week 43 Case 43 This is intussusception of the small intestine. One portion of bowel has telescoped inside another distal portion, compromising the blood supply from the mesentery. The result is infarction, evidenced by the dark red appearance, and this portion of bowel was surgically excised.
Intussusception is a rare event.
In infants and children, this event happens at the ileocecal valve and often has no obvious etiology. When intussusception occurs in adults, the small intestine is usually involved and the precipitating cause is a mass projecting into the lumen that was caught by a peristaltic wave and pulled distally.