Intestinal Obstruction Due to Inspissated Barium

A 64-year-old woman with ulcerative colitis presented with abdominal pain. Plain radiography of the abdomen showed dilatation of the large bowel with a plug of barium (Panel A, arrow) and a second plug in the pelvis. The patient's last barium study, performed 9 months earlier, had been normal. Abdominal computed tomographic examination for strictures and underlying masses showed a short segment of thick-walled left colon immediately distal to the plug of barium in the abdomen (Panel B, arrow). The plug in the pelvis was found to be in the cecum and was not associated with small-bowel obstruction. The patient underwent . . .