Abstract
An 80-year-old man developed omental panniculitis in September 2012 that was alleviated by steroid therapy. Steroids were continued until January 2013. In February, he began to experience repeated intestinal obstruction. Computed tomography (CT) during this time did show changes in the extent of dilation of the small intestine, but no change in positional relationships of the small intestine, and an encapsulated structure was also observed, leading to the diagnosis of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis in which an adhesive membrane-like structure encapsulated the small intestine. The patient underwent laparotomy in April after intestinal obstruction recurred. Laparotomy revealed that the entirety of the small intestine was covered with a thickened, white-toned coating, with firm adhesion to the retroperitoneum and bladder in the lower abdominal area and firm adhesion with the parietal peritoneum in the upper left abdominal area. The thickened coating was excised as much as possible, to peel off the adhesion of the entire small intestine. Postoperative course was favorable and the patient was transferred to another hospital on postoperative day 38 without recurrence of intestinal obstruction. We encountered and hereby report a case of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis secondary to omental panniculitis, along with some discussion of the literature.
