Introduction
Enteroliths, faecaliths, ingested foreign bodies, and bezoars are
examples of focal intraluminal obstructions that can lodge in
inaccessible parts of the gastrointestinal tract (Hanson and Schumacher
2021; Hassel 2002; Klohnen 2013; Oreff et al 2020; Pierce, 2010).
Gastrointestinal segments that are particularly difficult to surgically
access and manage include stomach, duodenum, distal ileum, base and
dorsal body of cecum, aboral right dorsal colon, transverse colon, and
the most oral and aboral limits of the descending (small) colon
(Marshall and Blikslager 2019). The accompanying article by Machado
Amaral Rosa et al (2023) describes the use of pneumatic
lithotripsy to aid in resolution of enterolith obstructions in the oral
and aboral descending colon and to prevent need for a second enterotomy
in removal of an enterolith from the left dorsal colon.