Acute intestinal obstruction may occur in patient who swallows dried fruit.
Mechanism: A person swallows a piece of dried fruit without chewing. As the fruit goes through the intestines it absorbs water and swells to a size large enough to obstruct the bowel.
Clinical features:
(1) The patient presents with acute intestinal obstruction.
(2) A piece of fruit is present at the point of the obstruction, which is often at the ileocecal valve.
(3) The person recently ate dried fruit (apricot, peach, etc).
(4) There is no other explanation for the obstruction.
