Address correspondence to: Dr. Mark B. Pochapin, NYU Langone Medical Center, 522 First Avenue, Suite 901B, New York, NY 10016; Tel: 646-501-6760; Fax: 646-501-6767; E-mail: [email protected] A bezoar is an indigestible mass of material—such as hair, food, seeds, or another ingested substance—found in the gastrointestinal tract.1 A phytobezoar, the most common type of bezoar, is composed o...

INTRODUCTION Phytobezoars are concretions of poorly digested fruit and vegetable fibers found in the alimentary tract. Previous gastric resection, gastrojejunostomy, or pyloroplasty predispose people to bezoar formation. Small-bowel bezoars normally come from the stomach, and primary small-bowel bezoars are very rare. They are seen only in patients with underlying small-bowel diseases such as d...

We describe a giant gastric phytobezoar in a child with repaired congenital esophageal atresia. At age two, a gastric interposition (pull-up) procedure was performed for severe and recurrent esophageal strictures. For 12 months post-gastric interposition, he experienced frequent respiratory illnesses requiring hospital admissions but it was not initially appreciated that these episodes were lik...

Fungal bezoars, or fungal balls, are rare pathologic consequences of funguria in immunocompromised patients. Current treatment recommendations are based on expert opinion and low level evidence. We present a case of a Candida glabrata bezoar that was effectively treated with percutaneous amphotericin B instillations. A subsequent literature review is presented to assess the available case repor...

A 38-year-old woman with no significant past medical history presented to the emergency department with a 1-day history of diffuse abdominal pain. She reported normal bowel movements up to 1 day prior and was unable to pass anything rectally since. There was no report of fever, nausea, vomiting, hematemesis, or melena. Physical exam demonstrated diffuse abdominal tenderness and normal bowel sou...

INTRODUCTION Gastrointestinal leiomyomas are often clinically silent until they bleed or grow large enough to cause local mass effect. PRESENTATION OF CASE We report the unique case of an otherwise healthy 69-year-old male who developed a small bowel obstruction secondary to a mobile small intestinal leiomyoma. During initial evaluation, computed tomography did not demonstrate the cause of ob...