METHODS: An older patient with CBS presented with symptoms similar to that of acute colonic obstruction and subsequently developed delirium. The patient was found to have colonic pseudo-obstruction (OS).
RESULTS: Neostigmin infusion was therefore given to treat it and delirium was resolved.
CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, clinical manifestation of delirium as OS in a patient with CBS has not been previously reported. OS may be superimposed to CBS in older patients, and OS in such patients may play a role as a precipitating factor for the development of delirium. Given the fact that CBS is progressive and rare neurodegenerative disease and almost all of these patients need palliative care, eventually, health-care professionals, especially in palliative care, should be aware of distinctive challenges of life-limiting chronic neurological illnesses, such as conditions that may lead to the development of acute colonic pseudo-obstruction because the rapid treatment of them prevents the use of potentially harmful drugs, surgical procedures, or inappropriate interventions.