Perforation in a patient with stercoral colitis and diverticulosis: who did it?

Stercoral colitis with perforation of the colon is an uncommon, yet life-threatening cause of the acute abdomen. No one defining symptom exists for stercoral colitis; it may present asymptomatically or with vague symptoms. Diagnostic delay may result in perforation of the colon resulting in complications, even death. Moreover, stercoral perforation of the colon can also present with localized left lower quadrant abdominal pain masquerading as diverticulitis. Diverticular diseases and stercoral colitis share similar pathophysiology; furthermore, they may coexist, further complicating the diagnostic dilemma. The ability to decide the cause of perforation in a patient with both stercoral colitis and diverticulosis has not been discussed. We, therefore, report this case of stercoral perforation in a patient with diverticulosis and include a discussion of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, and a review of helpful diagnostic clues for a rapid differentiation to allow for accurate diagnosis and treatment

Historical perspective: eponyms of vascular radiology.

Eponyms are ubiquitous throughout the medical literature, especially the radiology lexicon. In particular, vascular radiology is replete with dozens of eponyms named after pathologic and anatomic features and various medical devices. Several disease processes are known exclusively by their eponyms or by both their eponyms and their descriptive names. Although some authors advocate abandoning eponyms in favor of more descriptive terms, the established history and common use of eponyms make it unlikely that they will disappear from the vocabulary. Radiologists should be familiar with both the eponymous and descriptive names of disease processes to ensure effective communication and prevent erroneous identification. Study of these eponyms provides information about these disease processes and other medical knowledge for use in daily practice. In addition, biographic information about the pertinent physicians can yield insights into the sometimes surprising origins of these eponyms. The authors provide biographic sketches of these physicians and discuss the clinical relevance of the anatomic features, malformations, and syndromes that bear their names