Abstract

Peritoneal encapsulation (PE); first reported by Clelant in 1868 is a rare congenital anomaly caused by a defect in the development of the midgut and consisting of the abnormal presence of an accessory peritoneal sheet enveloping part or all of the small intestines. The pathogenesis is still unclear: the embedding of the loops in the neoformed sac, with the development of adhesions and bridges between the loops and the sac, are at the origin of digestive symptoms ranging from non-specific abdominal pain to acute intestinal obstruction, the most dreaded complication. Preoperative diagnosis is often difficult, facilitated by CT scans, but intraoperative discovery is predominant. We hereby report the case of a 40-year-old patient with no particular history who presented with chronic abdominal pain evolving for 2 years; injected abdominal CT confirmed the diagnosis and the patient underwent surgery, excision of the sac was performed with release of the incarcerated handles. We publish this clinical case to report this rare congenital malformation.