Spontaneous perforated Meckel’s diverticulum in adults: a case report

Abstract

Background: Meckel’s diverticulum (MD) is a common congenital gastrointestinal anomaly in children and is rarely diagnosed in adults. Hemorrhage, obstruction, and inflammation are the three most common complications resulting from Meckel’s diverticulum. Perforated MD is very rare and mimics a perforated appendix on presentation. Case Presentation: We report a case of spontaneous perforated MD in an adult female patient who presented with localized abdominal pain for 2 days. This pain gets worse and is progressively generalized to the whole abdomen. On physical examination her abdomen was distended with guarding. Based on the imaging, a provisional diagnosis of infectious enteritis was carried out. The patient was vitally unstable in which the patient pushed to operating room for exploratory laparotomy. Intraoperative findings of perforated MD were seen. Segmental resection with an end-to-end anastomosis was carried out and the patient uneventfully recovered well. Conclusion: Diagnosis of MD in adults is challenging as its occurrence is rare, but it should be kept in mind. Early diagnosis with proper intervention provides the best outcomes and fewer complications.