A rare case of a duodenocolic fistula in a 3-year old child

Intraintestinal fistula is an unnatural communication between the intestinal cavity and other parts of the gut. Duodenocolic fistulas are common in adult patients with duodenal peptic ulcer or colon malignancies. In children, the formation of intraintestinal fistulas is possible as a rare complication of necrotizing enterocolitis of the newborn, after swallowing of several (two and more) magnetic foreign bodies localized in different parts of the digestive tract, as well as a complication of Crohn's disease at an older age. The article presents a clinical case of a duodenocolic fistula in a 3-year-old child. The patient Sh., 3 years and 2 months old, was admitted to the Pediatric Department of our clinic with a malabsorption syndrome and complaints of periodic vomiting after meals, weakness, tiredness, unstable light grayish stools, flatulence, periodic abdominal pains, and weight loss. There were clinical signs of stage II hypotrophy, protein and energy insufficiency. Laboratory tests showed low protein, albumin, and cholesterol levels, hypochromic anemia; fecal steatorrhea, creatorrhea, and amilorrhea. The differential diagnosis included intestinal malabsorption syndrome, presumably of a secondary origin, intestinal infection, congenital pancreatic disease, hereditary metabolic disorders, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, lambliosis, and tumor. Multiple endoscopic and radiological examinations of the gastrointestinal tract were performed, but the intraintestinal fistula was identified only after repeated examinations. The patient's medical history from the first referral to the final diagnosis lasted about 9 months. The mechanism of the fistula formation in this patient is unclear. The clinical manifestation corresponded to the location of the fistula. In the long-term, the functioning of pathological intraintestinal communication could have a negative impact on the growth and development of the child; mucosal atrophy of the descending part of the intestine would have been possible, with progressive cachexy that could have become fatal.