TY - JOUR T1 - Stercoral perforation of the colon in a heroin addict. AU - Brown,Cameron Douglas, AU - Maxwell,Fraser, AU - French,Paul, AU - Nicholson,Gary, Y1 - 2017/08/01/ PY - 2017/8/3/entrez PY - 2017/8/3/pubmed PY - 2018/5/1/medline KW - drugs misuse (including addiction) KW - general surgery KW - resuscitation JF - BMJ case reports JO - BMJ Case Rep VL - 2017 N2 - A 27-year-old female heroin addict presented with a peritonitic and distended abdomen. Her medical history included depression and a 3-year history of heroin abuse with attendant constipation. CT scan showed free intraperitoneal gas, massive faecal distension of the rectum and sigmoid colon and likely bowel necrosis. She underwent an emergency Hartmann's procedure for perforation of the sigmoid colon. Pathology identified two areas of stercoral ulceration, one of them being the area of perforation. Postoperatively, the patient developed a deep vein thrombosis and is now on anticoagulant therapy. She was discharged 4 weeks after admission. The patient has been reviewed at follow-up clinic by the surgical team and specialist stoma nurses. She is coping well with good stoma function. We will perform a colonoscopy to identify any further areas of stercoral ulceration but there are no plans for further surgery at present. SN - 1757-790X UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/28765178/Stercoral_perforation_of_the_colon_in_a_heroin_addict_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -