Obstrucción intestinal debido a endometriosis ileal: reporte de un caso y revisión bibliográfica

small bowel obstruction is one of the most common abdominal urgencias seen in the emergency room. lt is a syndrome due to many causes, a particularly rare one is intestinal envolvement by endometriotic tissue which occurs in up to 37% of patients with endometriosis. the vast majority of patients do not experience symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract. we present here the case of a 34-year-old woman with intestinal obstruction secondary to endometriosis. she underwent surgical resection with primary anastomosis. pathologic evaluation showed extensive endometriosis of the small bowel which resulted in complete obstruction of the lumen. postoperatively, the patient recovered slowly and required an ileostomy due to dehiscence of the anastomosis. this report illuminates the rare, yet significant, complications of intestinal endometriosis, including small bowel obstruction. one should consider the possibility of intestinal endometriosis in the differential diagnosis of bowel obstruction in women of childbearing age.