Intrauterine Volvulus

Abstract

Although volvulus is mostly seen in infancy, rare cases of intrauterine volvulus have also been reported. Fetal ultrasonographic (USG) examination of a 32-year-old woman at the 24th gestational week, showed focal dilatation of the intestines with an increased wall echogenity of the dilated segments. At the subsequent visits USG revealed progressive dilatation of the intestines. The patient presented with preterm labor at the 32nd gestational week. Cullen's sign developed on newborn's abdominal skin over time. During the operation, there was a stiff, yellowcolored, fibrinous pouch, jejunal and ileal atretic ends (25 cm of jejunum was remaining). We started total parenteral nutrition (TPN) because of short bowel syndrome. The patient died due to TPN-related sepsis at age 40 days. Timely diagnosis and treatment of intrauterine volvulus cases is very difficult because there are mostly non-specific signs, which have many differential diagnoses. This fact negatively affects mortality and morbidity for intrauterine volvulus cases.