Abstract
An 80-year-old woman presented to a hospital because of a more than one-month history of thinning stool column and constipation was pointed out edema and stricture encircling the rectal mucosa completely by colonoscopy (CS). In addition she had had increased level of CEA. She was thus referred to our hospital for the purpose of close exploration. No malignant findings were found by endoscopic biopsy. However, a possibility of rectal cancer could not be ruled out, because the whole-circumferential rectal stricture and the high CEA level persisted, and laparotomy was performed. The operation confirmed absence of any tumors in the rectum and the pelvic cavity. Intraoperative CS showed the rectal stricture to have improved. We decided not to perform rectal resection but to follow her clinical course conservatively. Another CS taken one week later disclosed only mild degree of rectal stricture. Stricture-type ischemic colitis of the rectum was diagnosed.
Stricture-type ischemic colitis is a relatively rare entity, and such cases associating with high CEA level, like our case, have scarcely been reported so far. We present our case with a review of the literature.
