Gastric bezoar in anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE

To report the case of a gastric bezoar in a patient with anorexia nervosa (AN).

METHOD

Case report of a bezoar of the stomach occurring in AN and a review of the literature relating to bezoars and AN from PubMed.

RESULTS

A 19 year-old female presented with a 2-year history of AN binge-purge subtype. After 7 days of complete adherence to diet and no purging in hospital, she complained of increased nausea. She vomited up a cylindrical mass that was sent for pathology. A literature search yielded only one report of a bezoar in AN.

DISCUSSION

Bezoars are agglomerations of food or foreign material in the intestine. They usually present with abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, weight loss, poor appetite, or vomiting. The CT scan of the abdomen is the preferred method of diagnosis. Clinicians should consider the diagnosis of a bezoar in AN if there is concomitant pica, trichotillomania, or a change in gastrointestinal symptomatology.