Introduction: Intussusception usually is associated with children, rarely with adults.
Case presentation: A 42-year-old pregnant woman (29 weeks' gestation) reported mild pain in the upper aspect of the abdomen after an intense physical effort. Ultrasound examination found a normally evolving pregnancy and a bowel obstacle, without bowel distention. Because it was not a surgical emergency at the time of evaluation, she was sent to the hospital's Obstetrics Department. The patient's symptoms worsened the next day. Ultrasound examination revealed dilated bowel loops and free fluid. Strangulated epigastric hernia was suspected. Computed tomography was not performed. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a small-bowel intussusception, which was successfully manually reduced, and no leading point was found. Four days later, she delivered a premature baby boy. Two days later the necrotized reduced ileal loop had to be surgically removed because of the patient's altered status. After this procedure, the patient's recovery was uneventful.
Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first case of small-bowel intussusception in a pregnant woman reported in the literature.