A case of colonic fecal impaction caused by excessive dietary fiber intake that was endoscopically treated with intra-fecal injection of a bowel-cleansing agent

Hideaki Kawabata; Kojiro Nakase; Tetsuya Yamamoto; Hiroaki Satake; Katsutoshi Yamaguchi; Yuji Okazaki; Masatoshi Miyata; Shigehiro Motoi

A case of colonic fecal impaction caused by excessive dietary fiber intake that was endoscopically treated with intra-fecal injection of a bowel-cleansing agent

J Clin Transl Res. 2022 Dec 30;9(1):33-36. eCollection 2023 Feb 25.

Authors

Hideaki Kawabata¹, Kojiro Nakase¹, Tetsuya Yamamoto¹, Hiroaki Satake¹, Katsutoshi Yamaguchi¹, Yuji Okazaki¹, Masatoshi Miyata¹, Shigehiro Motoi¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Kyoto Okamoto Memorial Hospital, Kuse District, Kyoto 613-0034, Japan.

PMID: 36687296
PMCID: PMC9844222

Abstract

Background and aim: A 75-year-old man who had eaten half a head of chopped raw cabbage (approximately 600 g) daily was suffering from the left lower pain, abdominal fullness, and constipation. He was diagnosed with colonic ileus and obstructive colitis due to a fecal impaction in the sigmoid-descending junction. During colonoscopy, a tapered catheter was repeatedly inserted into the impacted feces to inject a bowel-cleansing agent. Finally, the feces were broken to be fragmented enough to path the endoscope through. After the procedure, his symptoms were immediately relieved.

Relevance for patients: Excessive dietary fiber intake can induce fecal ileus. Endoscopic treatment with intra-fecal injection of a bowel-cleansing agent is useful and worth attempting for disimpaction of feces.

Keywords: Bowel-cleansing agent; Colonoscopy; Dietary fiber; Disimpaction; Fecal impaction.