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DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-921152
Banana Fibers in Colonic Mucus May Puzzle the Endoscopist
Publication History
Submitted
Accepted after revision
Publication Date:
16 May 2006 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/endoscopy/200512/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-2005-921152-1.jpg)
Fig. 1 A 53-year-old woman was evaluated with colonoscopy for diarrhea. Bowel preparation was with sodium phosphate solution and the patient’s having a liquid diet the day before colonoscopy. The colonic mucosa was normal, but odd filament-like, brown, immobile bands within mucus, measuring 1 - 3 cm in length, were noted in the transverse and the sigmoid colon. These resembled parasite or worm bodies, and one of them was grasped with the biopsy forceps and sent for microscopy within saline.
Fig. 2 A microscopic picture of the ‘worm’ (magnification × 400), which turned out to be vegetable fibers. The patient reported the ingestion of one banana the day before colonoscopy. On microscopic examination, fibers from the interior of a banana showed the same structure as that pictured here.
Endoscopy_UCTN_Code_CCL_1AD_2AH
S. D. Ladas, M. D.
Hepato-Gastroenterology Unit
Attikon University General Hospital
23 Sisini Street
11528 Athens
Greece
Fax: +30-210-7225882
Email: sdladas@hol.gr