A 18-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea three weeks after undergoing a cesarean section. Imaging revealed thickening of the cecum and ascending colon. She received intravenous antibiotics and pain medication. Over subsequent days, her symptoms improved briefly but then worsened again with more diarrhea. Further imaging showed thickening of the colon from the cecum to the hepatic flexure. A diagnostic procedure was then performed.

1. Caso ciego 2, 2012 (Dra. de la Torre)
A 18-year-old girl (gravida 1, para 1) was admitted to the hospital because of abdominal
pain, fever, and diarrhea. The patient had been in good health before admission. Three weeks
earlier, she had undergone a cesarean section because of multiple bouts of fetal bradycardia;
the infant was delivered at 40 weeks of gestation. The pregnancy was otherwise uneventful.
She received a single dose of gentamicin and two doses of clindamycin intravenously in the
peripartum period. Her postpartum course was uneventful, and she was discharged on the third
postoperative day. Three days before admission, the patient began to have pain in the right
lower quadrant of her abdomen. The pain became more severe the next day and was
accompanied by very frequent, watery stools that were brown and later black, nausea, and a
temperature that peaked at 38.3°C. She passed no fresh blood. One day before admission, 2
liters of fluid with electrolytes was administered intravenously. On the day of admission, the pain
became more severe and was unrelieved by acetaminophen–oxycodone, although the diarrhea
had ceased. The patient did not have a history of previous abdominal pain or exposure to
patients with gastroenteritis, and there was no family history of inflammatory bowel disease.
She resided in eastern Massachusetts. The temperature was 38.7°C, the pulse was 104, and
the respirations were 16. The blood pressure was 130/70 mm Hg. On examination, the patient
was in considerable pain. Her abdomen was soft but exquisitely tender in the right lower
quadrant, without rebound tenderness; bowel sounds were diminished. A stool specimen
contained occult blood. The urine was normal; the sediment contained 0 to 2 red cells and 3 to
5 white cells per high-power field. The results of hematologic studies performed at various times
during the hospital stay are shown in Table 1. Blood chemical values were normal. A computed
tomographic (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis, obtained after the rectal administration of
contrast material (Fig. 1), revealed concentric thickening of the wall of the cecum and proximal
ascending colon, with fat stranding and prominent lymph nodes in the adjacent mesentery. A
transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasonographic study of the pelvis showed no abnormalities.
Morphine was given intravenously. A blood specimen and a rectal swab were obtained for
culture. Ampicillin, gentamicin, and fluid and electrolytes were administered intravenously;
heparin was injected subcutaneously, and metronidazole was given orally. Total parenteral
nutrition was instituted. The temperature rose to 39.1°C on the first hospital day. The uterus was
not tender; its size corresponded to a 12-week gestation; there was no discharge. On the
second hospital day, the temperature rose to 38.8°C. Blood chemical tests were performed on
this day and subsequently during the hospital course (Table 2). An abdominal radiograph
showed no abnormalities. The administration of analgesia, controlled by the patient, was begun.
The pain improved briefly, but the patient refused abdominal examination because of extreme
tenderness. On the third hospital day, the patient passed a voluminous brown, watery stool, with
a subsequent increase in abdominal pain. The temperature was 38.2°C. The findings on
physical examination were unchanged. Colonoscopic examination, which had to be
discontinued at the splenic flexure because of the presence of stool, showed no abnormalities.
A biopsy specimen was obtained. A stool sample was negative for Clostridium difficile toxin. An
ultrasonographic study of the legs showed no evidence of deep-vein thrombosis. A CT scan of
the abdomen and pelvis, obtained after the intravenous and oral administration of contrast
material, showed concentric thickening of the colon from the cecum to the hepatic flexure, with
adjacent fat stranding. There was normal enhancement of the right ovarian vein; filling defects,
a sign of thrombosis, were absent. Low-molecularweight heparin was substituted for heparin.
Later in the day, the patient passed two small, liquid stools. On the morning of the fifth hospital
day, the temperature was 38.1°C. Gentle palpation of the abdomen revealed marked
tenderness. Another stool specimen was negative for C. difficile toxin. On colonoscopic
examination, the mucosa of the hepatic flexure and right side of the colon was purple. A
diagnostic procedure was performed.