CASE 26: Small Bowel Obstruction in a Recipient of a 5th Kidney Transplant

On occasions, recipients may develop clinical findings in the early or relatively early post-transplant period that may not be necessarily related to the transplant itself. In this instance, a recipient of a 5th kidney transplant presented within weeks after discharge with clinical findings suggestive of a small bowel obstruction. An exploratory laparotomy showed distended and collapsed small bowel.

At the transition point, a single adhesion (arrow), as in most cases of small bowel obstruction in the general population, was found to be responsible for the obstruction.

Once the adhesion was lysed, the obstruction resolved. The post-operative course was uneventful from both the transplant and GI standpoints.