Rapunzel and pregnancy.

Rapunzel, the girl with long golden tresses in the fairy tale, inspired Vaughan et al to describe, in 1968, cases of trichobezoar with a long tail causing bowel obstruction as "Rapunzel syndrome." A 22-year-old Egyptian woman had been suffering from episodes of epigastric pain and vomiting throughout her pregnancy and puerperium. After diagnosing pancreatitis, we discovered a trichobezoar in her stomach. In an emergent gastrotomy, she was found to have a gastric trichobezoar with a long tail extending down to her duodenum. This is one of the very few cases of Rapunzel syndrome to be complicated by pancreatitis; to our knowledge, it is the first to be reported postpartum.