Case Report
Colouterine and Jejunouterine Fistula Secondary to
Chronic Diverticulitis
Ilias Galanis , Georgios Floros , Christophoros Theodoropoulos, Myriam Metaxa,
Panagiotis Theodoropoulos, Panagiotis Tsintavis, Dimitrios Bartziotas,
Georgios Giannos, Georgios Stylianidis, and Georgios Papadopoulos
Department of Surgery, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece
Correspondence should be addressed to Ilias Galanis; iliasg100@gmail.com
Received 11 February 2021; Revised 22 March 2021; Accepted 26 March 2021; Published 1 April 2021
Academic Editor: Hirotada Akiho
Copyright©2021IliasGalanisetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Fistulaebetweenthecolonorthesmallintestineandtheuterusareextremelyrareastheuterusisathick,muscularorgan.Here,we
presentthecaseofa74-year-oldfemalepresentingtooursurgicaldepartmentbecauseoffecalvaginaldischargeforthepastfew
months, which proved to be caused by a combined colouterine and jejunouterine fistula due to chronic diverticulitis. Total
abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy with en bloc resection of part of the jejunum and the sigmoid colon and
primary anastomoses were performed. is case represents an unusual type of diverticulitis complication and aims to point out
the diagnostic and therapeutic issues of such a rare medical condition.
1.Introduction
Diverticulosis is one of the most common colonic pathol-
ogies. It affects, mostly, those who are living in developed
countries, and its incidence is well known to increase with
age. However, the incidence of diverticular disease has,
recently, been increasing in ird-World countries [1].
Diverticulitis is the result of infection and inflammation of
diverticula. e complications of diverticulitis are stricture,
bleeding, perforation, fistula formation, and death [2].
Fistulisation is defined as a communication between two
surfacesgettingincontact[3].Fistulaeconstituteupto20%
ofcomplications.eformationofthefistularesultsfroma
local inflammatory process which decompresses by perfo-
rating into an adjacent tissue. e most common type of
fistulae due to diverticulitis is colovesical fistulae, with
colovaginal fistulae being the second most common.
Colouterine, as well as jejunouterine, fistulae are very rare
because the uterus is a very thick and muscular organ,
preventinganybenignormalignantdiseasefrominvadingit
[4].Exceptfordiverticulitis,malignantdisease,spontaneous
rupture of a gravid uterus, and obstetric trauma such as
curettage and radiation therapy may result in a fistula be-
tween the intestine and the uterus [5]. A colouterine fistula
was,first,describedbyLejemtelin1909,andthefirstreport
ofthecolouterinefistularelatedtodiverticulitiswasgivenby
Noecker in 1929 [1]. Since then, only very few cases have
been reported in the literature, indicating the rarity of this
condition.
2.Case
A 74-year-old female was referred to our department of
surgery with malodorous fecal vaginal discharge that had
lasted several weeks. Medical history included multiple
episodes of acute diverticulitis and dementia. She had no
abdominal pain or fever. Upon admission, her laboratory
tests were within the normal range. Pelvic examination
revealed an atrophied vagina and malodorous yellowish
vaginal discharge. A colovaginal fistula, secondary to di-
verticular disease, was suspected as it is the most common
type of fistula between the gastrointestinal and female re-
productive system. Cultures of the vaginal discharge were
sent. Nil per os, total parenteral nutrition, and intravenous
Hindawi
Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine
Volume 2021, Article ID 5543505, 3 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5543505