A Case of Descending Colon Stenosis with the Possible Involvement of Diarrheagenic Escherichia Coli O25

Abstract

Colon stenosis may occur for a variety of reasons, but cases in which its cause is infectious colitis are rare. The case of a patient who required surgery for colon stenosis following colitis caused by diarrheagenic Escherichia coli O25 is presented.

An 83-year-old woman presented at our hospital with diarrhea and abdominal pain. Tests detected diarrheagenic E.coli O25. She was managed conservatively for infectious colitis and discharged on Day 83. She subsequently developed stenosis of the descending colon through which an endoscope was unable to pass, and laparoscopic partial colectomy was therefore performed. There was no postoperative recurrence of the stenosis, and her subsequent course has been uneventful. Although no previous case of colon stenosis due to diarrheagenic E. coli O25 alone has been reported, it appears that the patient developed stenotic ischemic colitis as a result of E. coli O25 infection.