Infectious suppurative thrombophlebitis of the portal venous system, referred to as pylephlebitis, is a rare complication of intra-abdominal inflammatory processes. Advances in diagnostics and antibiotics have improved survival, but mortality remains remarkably high even in the most recent literature. The majority of patients have concomitant bacteraemia on presentation most commonly with typical gastrointestinal (GI) organisms. On rare occasion, patients have culture positive , which has recently been associated with occult GI and genitourinary malignancies. Here, we describe a patient presenting with pylephlebitis and bacteraemia who responded well to medical therapy, review pertinent literature and discuss the benefits of screening endoscopy in this patient population.
A 24-year-old African American female nonsmoker, with a reported history of asthma presented to the hospital with 2 weeks of shortness of breath and sputum production. She had a chest X-ray and computed tomography scan that displayed evidence of a right upper lobe collapse. She subsequently had a bronchoscopy that revealed an endobronchial lesion at the opening of the right upper lobe bronchus. Biopsies performed were consistent with a granular cell tumor. Granular cell tumors are rare submucosal tumors of Schwann cell origin. Resection of the right upper lobe resolved her symptoms and wheezing.
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