Fulminant amoebic colitis with perforation successfully treated by staged surgery: a case report

Radical surgery for fulminant amoebic colitis leads to extremely high mortality; however, resective surgery is mandatory if a patient develops massive fecal peritonitis. We herein report an extremely rare case of fulminant amoebic colitis with multiple perforations, which was successfully treated by staged surgical procedures. A 48-year-old man who had been treated with predonisolone under a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis was admitted. Biopsy specimens from the colonic mucosa revealed Entamoeba histolytica. On the day of diagnosis, he developed severe abdominal pain and underwent emergency laparoptomy, showing total colonic gangrene with multiple perforations associated with massive fecal peritonitis. Subtotal colectomy, mucous fistula of the rectosigmoid, and ileostomy were performed. He recovered well although disseminated intravascular coagulopathy developed postoperatively. As the middle and upper part of rectum was found to be severely stenotic 4 months after surgery, we performed proctectomy, ileal pouch anal canal anastomosis, and diverting ileostomy, which was reversed 6 months later. The patient has been well with satisfactory anal function 37 months after the initial surgery. This case suggests that (1) early and accurate diagnosis of amoebiasis is important to avoid surgical intervention, and (2) staged surgery including total colectomy should be considered as one of the treatment choices even in patients with total necrotizing amoebic colitis.