Case 32522

Presentation of CaseA sixty-two-year-old housewife entered the hospital because of persistent drainage from a cecostomy.About five years before admission the patient first began having attacks of abdominal pain in the left lower quadrant. These lasted a day or two and were accompanied by a feeling of tenesmus and by loose stools. Between attacks there was no discomfort. The stools gradually became smaller in size but never contained blood and were never black. About fifteen weeks before admission, during an unusually severe attack of pain, the left side of the abdomen was found to be swollen. At that time . . .