Colonoscopy reveals incredibly resilient insect


Colonoscopies are gross and scary enough on their own without cockroaches being introduced into the mix – but the photograph that you see before you is of exactly that: a cockroach in someone’s colon, a live one no less.

A 52-year-old woman with a history of depression was referred by her primary physician for colorectal cancer screening. She had no family history of colorectal cancer and a review of systems was positive for abdominal bloating. Bowel preparation was done using 4 L of polyethylene glycol the evening prior to screening colonoscopy. The procedure was uncomplicated with no gross mucosal pathology, however, an insect was found in the transverse colon (Fig. 1, to the left), was found in the transverse colon on a routine screening colonoscopy.). The insect was aspirated and sent to the lab for further identification. The insect had three body segments (head, thorax, and abdomen) with ventrodorsal flattening of the body and a segmented abdomen, three pairs of legs extending from the thorax (with spikes and claw-like terminal appendages), elongated hind legs, and a pair of elongated antennae extending from the head to beyond the hind legs.These morphologic findings were most consistent with the nymph form of Blattella germanica (German cockroach) of the Blattellidae family, a common household pest. The patient had a cockroach infestation at home and hence it was hypothesized that she may have inadvertently ingested a cockroach with food.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the patient in question was probably really happy to learn that she had a cockroach living in her colon – it beats colorectal cancer any day of the week. But in all seriousness, if you have cockroach nymphs invading your colon, you really do need to think about calling in a professional to deal with your home’s bug problem. [Neatorama]

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C.S. Magor is the editor-in-chief and a reporter at large for We Interrupt and Uberreview. He currently resides in the Japanese countryside approximately two hours from Tokyo - where he has spent the better part of a decade testing his hypothesis that Japan is neither as quirky nor as interesting as others would have you believe.
10 Comments on this post.
  • Tweets that mention Colonoscopy reveals incredibly resilient insect — Topsy.com
    6 January 2011 at 12:55 pm
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    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chuck. Chuck said: Happy thought for the day! RT @shaggyshaw: RT @weinterrupt: Colonoscopy reveals incredibly resilient insect http://su.pr/5y1Vmh – OMG […]

  • Furian
    6 January 2011 at 6:47 pm
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    HOW…. DOES…. A…. COCKROACH …. GET ….. UP ….. THERE

    • Lisalou
      7 January 2011 at 11:09 pm
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      It says she had digested it… but wouldn’t the enzymes in the stomach digest it, break it down? I am more concerned that it crawled in…

  • Pete
    6 January 2011 at 8:04 pm
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    I bet her husband’s happy they got rid of the bug up her ass.

  • Jimmy Default
    7 January 2011 at 11:50 am
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    Makes me wonder if the cockroach became a parasite and affected her personality. Can cockroaches do that? Anyone?

  • radchick
    7 January 2011 at 3:05 pm
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    I’d rather have colon cancer, honestly…

  • obbop
    7 January 2011 at 6:05 pm
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    Just more evidence of the USA’s economic downturn and that it is more severe than the elite-class-owned mass media or the elite-class-owned politicians are telling us.

    When will YOU have to commence eating bugs just to survive?

  • Flutterbies80
    7 January 2011 at 11:44 pm
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    Really? While I agree yes the USA is having an economic downturn…you blame it for this lady ingesting a cockroach? Couldn’t just be that maybe she was depressed, got lazy, didn’t clean, had the cockroach infestation and apparently accidently ate it…or swallowed it seeing as it was still alive. Nowhere in the article did it say she knowingly and voluntarily ate cockroaches.

  • Seriously?
    8 January 2011 at 12:33 pm
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    Cockroaches need oxygen to survive and it takes hours to digest food, so this story is probably fake.

  • Jennygirl143
    12 January 2011 at 2:21 pm
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    it probably crawled up. i’m a nurse & it does happen. they like ALL warm spots & will crawl up if not STOPPED. hello!!!!!!!

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