Abdominal cocoon secondary to tuberculosis.

Abdominal cocoon or sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis is a rare cause of intestinal obstruction that has been described mostly in young adolescent girls. Thick fibrotic peritoneum encasing the small bowel in a small volume is a pathognomonic feature. This condition presents many difficulties in preoperative diagnosis. Early diagnosis can result in proper management, and may prevent the need for bowel resection. The author reports a case of a male patient with intermittent subacute intestinal obstruction and an abdominal cocoon encasing the small bowel secondary to abdominal tuberculosis, which was suspected preoperatively by radiology. To the best of our knowledge, this case represents one of the very few male patients with this disease entity reported in medical literature.