Nephrotic syndrome in a female patient with Rapunzel syndrome

Abstract

The Rapunzel syndrome is a rare complication of gastric trichobezoar, which may be long insidious. Systemic hair eating gradually leads to bezoar growth, gastritis, gastric mucosal ulcerations, and evacuatory disorders. The Rapunzel syndrome may cause acute and chronic bowel obstruction, peritonitis, pancreatitis, appendicitis, anemia, hypoalbuminemia, and allergic manifestations. Neither proteinuria nor nephrotic syndrome is depicted in any of the 38 Rapunzel syndrome cases described in the literature. The authors present the first case of gastric trichobezoar extending to the small bowel (its total length was 118 cm), which gave rise to chronic recurrent partial bowel obstruction, causing intoxication nephrotic syndrome in a 20-year-old women with trichotillomania. The nephrotic syndrome became a reason for her admission to a nephrology department and had specific features: it was unaccompanied by hypercholesterolemia, it rapidly regressed and completely disappeared after surgical removal of the trichobezoar weighing 1980 g.