Boiled egg on surgical menu-First report of laparoscopic removal of preoperatively diagnosed peritoneal mouse and review of literature

Abstract

AimClinical hunt for the cause of primary or unreferred abdominal pain is guided by either by its visceral or somatic root. MethodsA structured clinical examination and conventional imaging leads to localization of the cause of abdominal pain. The pathology is mostly localized to an abdominal visceral content or neighboring reteroperitoneal structure, which are fixed in their location on imaging. Abdominal & peritoneal spaces are free of any freely mobile structures outside the luminal viscera. Even the image picked pathologies, usually urinary tract stones or foreign bodies in gastrointestinal tracts, shift their image positions at a speed dictated by the physiological function of the viscera. ResultsAny finding of an image that shifts faster than the physiological movement and is extraluminal is a free or loose peritoneal body. These bodies have been found either on autopsies or as incidental findings on exploratory laparotomy for other causes. ConclusionThese have a boiled egg appearance and are known as peritoneal mouse. A preoperative diagnosis of these bodies in abdominal pain has not been reported so far.