IN THE 14 cases presented here there is a definite history of the ingestion of persimmons and diospyrobezoar at surgery or necropsy. Available data presented in 46 cases1 in the literature are analyzed. The term diospyrobezoar was suggested by DeBakey and Ochsner2 for concretions of persimmon origin in the gastrointestinal tract. These authors reviewed 311 collected cases of bezoars and concretions and found that 92 (29.5%) were diospyrobezoars. However, only five bezoars of other origin were encountered at the University Hospital during the period of time represented by our 14 cases of diospyrobezoars. The University Hospital serves indigent patients from the State of Oklahoma, which is located in the persimmon belt.
PATHOGENESIS
The persimmon is a plum-like fruit of a tree which has a natural distribution in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This geographic factor contributes to the regional occurrence of