Spontaneous Enterocutaneous Fistula

Abstract

Spontaneous scrotal enterocutaneous fistulas (ECFs) are rare and more common in countries with poor access to medical care. Our patients represent the first two reported adult cases of scrotal ECFs in the United States. Both patients were 83-year-old males who presented from assisted living facilities with past medical histories of prostate cancer. The first patient had an ECF from his cecum to right scrotum and the second patient had an ECF from his sigmoid colon to left scrotum. These are the first recorded cases describing spontaneous scrotal ECFs in adults in the United States. They are also the seventh and eighth reported cases worldwide. Both patients had delayed presentations of their incarcerated hernias because their scrotal ECFs decompressed their incarcerated bowels and attenuated the development of obstructive symptoms. Each patient underwent a successful orchiectomy by urology and bowel resection with ligation of their scrotal ECFs, and herniorrhaphy by general surgery.