CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1660123
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Benign Diseases of the ColonView all 4 articles
A case of melanosis coli complicated with pneumatosis intestinalis-induced volvulus
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Pathology, the People,s Hospital of Boertala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Bole, China
- 2Department of Pathology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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Melanosis coli (MC) combined with pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is an exceedingly rare condition. We present the case of an 85-year-old male with a long-standing medical history of chronic constipation, hypertensive heart disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The patient was admitted to the hospital due to acute sigmoid volvulus with complete intestinal obstruction. After 3 days of conservative treatment, surgical intervention was performed, consisting of sigmoidectomy with volvulus reduction and formation of a descending colostomy. Histopathological examination confirmed MC with PI and associated mucosal necrosis. The patient unfortunately developed severe complications and eventually died of hemorrhagic shock and circulatory failure 22 days after surgery. This case explores the potential mechanisms underlying MC complicated by PI, emphasising the need for heightened clinical vigilance in elderly diabetic patients with chronic constipation and pre-existing cardiovascular disease, particularly following the use of anthraquinone-based laxatives and alpha-glucosidase inhibitor (αGI).
Keywords: Melanosis coli, Pneumatosis intestinalis, Volvulus, pathophysiology, case report
Received: 05 Jul 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bai, Wang, Song and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wenjia Sun, 940339223@qq.com
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