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A patient presented with 2 weeks of progressive right lower quadrant abdominal pain. His primary doctor ordered a CT which revealed the above findings. This was a very unusual case of cecal intussusception. In an adult, intussusception is always an ominous finding---in colonic intussusception, malignancy is the underlying cause in 50-71% of cases. In children, most cases of intussusception are spontaneous and unrelated to cancer and usually do not require surgical intervention.
This gentleman was admitted and a surgical consult was obtained. By the time I examined him, his pain was improving. We were able to perform a full colonoscopy which demonstrated a malignant appearing mass in the cecum. The next day he underwent laparoscopic right colectomy. Three days later he went home. In some respects, he was lucky to have developed an intussusception as it led to incapacitating symptoms, expediting the discovery of a malignant tumor.
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