• Tiffany Zens and R Scott Liebl.
• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Health Sciences Learning Center, 750 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53705, USA. tjzens@wisc.edu
• WMJ. 2010 Dec 1;109(6):332-4.

AbstractGallstone ileus is an uncommon cause of small bowel obstruction which occurs in patients with chronic cholecystitis and gallstones who develop a cholecystoenteric fistula. Although gallstone ileus is relatively rare, it has a substantial mortality rate due in part to patient comorbidities and delays in treatment. We describe the case of a 94-year-old woman who presented with nausea, vomiting, mild abdominal tenderness, leukocytosis, and a 2.5-cm obstruction in her small bowel. Even though this patient underwent a total cholecystectomy 30 years prior, a 2.5-cm gallstone was surgically removed from her ileum. This case illustrates the importance of including gallstone ileus in the differential diagnosis for patients who present with small bowel obstruction even decades postcholecystectomy.

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