Bowel obstruction due to intraluminal migration of intraperitoneal mesh

An 84-year-old patient with a history of laparoscopic epigastric hernioplasty (2012) came to the emergency department in 2022 due to occlusive symptoms compatible with an intraluminal foreign body impacted in the distal jejunum. The computed tomography (CT) scan showed no evidence of mesh in the anterior wall (Fig. 1), although it was identifiable on the 2019 CT.

Fig. 1

Laparotomy was indicated, and the tangled mass of distal jejunum loops was resected, although no interruption was observed. A foreign body was palpated. Subsequently, we opened the surgical specimen and identified the mesh located in the lumen, which was the cause of the patient’s occlusive symptoms (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2