Rapunzel and pregnancy.

Full Abstract

Rapunzel, the girl with long golden tresses in the fairy tale, inspired Vaughan et al to describe, in 1968, cases of trichobezoar with a long tail causing bowel obstruction as "Rapunzel syndrome." A 22-year-old Egyptian woman had been suffering from episodes of epigastric pain and vomiting throughout her pregnancy and puerperium. After diagnosing pancreatitis, we discovered a trichobezoar in her stomach. In an emergent gastrotomy, she was found to have a gastric trichobezoar with a long tail extending down to her duodenum. This is one of the very few cases of Rapunzel syndrome to be complicated by pancreatitis; to our knowledge, it is the first to be reported postpartum.

Author information

Author/s: Salem, Mohamed (M); Fouda, Ragai (R); Fouda, Usama (U); Maadawy, Mohamed E L (ME); Ammar, Hussam (H);

Affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Cairo University, Egypt.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Case Reports; Journal Article

Journal: Southern medical journal (South Med J), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jan; vol 102 (issue 1) : pp 106-7

Dates: Created 2009/01/06; Completed 2009/02/04; Revised 2009/05/06;

PMID: 19077769, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 5/6/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentIn: South Med J. 2009 May;102(5):554. (PMID: 19373162)

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