Patient: Male, 47Final Diagnosis: Bilateral psoas abscess • acute lower extremity deep vein thrombosis • bilateral pulmonary embolismSymptoms: Progressive left leg swelling • productive cough with whitish sputum • right flank painMedication: Antibiotics and anticoagulationClinical Procedure: CT-guided percutaneous drain placementSpecialty: Internal Medicine/Critical CareObjective:Unusual presentationBackground:Psoas abscesses are a known cause of back pain, but they have not been reported as a cause of acute lower extremity thromboses and bilateral pulmonary emboli. We report a patient with bilateral psoas abscesses causing extensive pulmonary emboli through compression of the iliac vein.Case Report:A 47-year-old man presented with bilateral leg swelling over 4 weeks. Physical examination revealed a thin male with bilateral leg swelling, extending to the thigh on his left side. He had hemoglobin of 10.5 g/dl, leukocytosis of 16 000/ml, and an elevated D-dimer. A computed tomography (CT) angiogram of his chest showed extensive bilateral pulmonary emboli and infarcts. He remained febrile with vague flank pain, prompting a CT of his abdomen and pelvis that showed large, multiloculated, septated, bilateral psoas abscesses with compression of the left femoral vein by the left psoas abscess and a thrombus distal to the occlusion. Two liters of pus was drained from the left psoas abscess by CT-guidance, and although the Gram staining showed Gram-positive cocci in clusters, cultures from the abscess and blood were negative. A repeat CT showed resolution of the abscesses, and the drain was removed. He was discharged to a nursing home to complete a course of intravenous antibiotics and anticoagulation.Conclusions:Although the infectious complications of psoas abscesses have been described in the literature, the mechanical complications of bilateral psoas abscesses are lacking. It is important to assess for complete resolution of psoas abscesses through follow-up imaging to prevent venous thromboembolic events.
We report this case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with progressive illness characterized by abdominal pain, weight loss, anorexia, generalized weakness, and fatigue. The patient was found to have obstructive jaundice with multiple mass lesions in the liver, spleen, and kidney on computed tomography scan of abdomen. She developed cholangitis, necessitating an emergent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with biliary stenting and decompression. Later, she was found to have hepatic sarcoidosis on wedge biopsy of the liver. Extrinsic compression of biliary tree from mass effect of sarcoid granulomas with superimposed biliary sepsis is rare.
Involvement of gastrointestinal tract by cytomegalovirus (CMV) is common. CMV infections mainly run their course without any clinical signs in immunocompetent hosts. In contrast, CMV can cause severe infections with serious consequences in a immunocompromised state typically associated with organ transplants, highly immunosuppressive cancer chemotherapy, advanced HIV infection or treatment with corticosteroids. The incidence and severity of these manifestations of CMV is directly proportional with the degree of cellular immune dysfunction, i.e., CD8+ Cytotoxic T-cell response. Clinical manifestations of CMV can become apparent in different situations including reactivation of CMV from latency, primary infection in a seronegative host, or exposure of a seropositive host to a new strain of CMV. As the clinical signs of CMV in immunodeficient patients are usually sparse, physicians should be highly vigilant about CMV infection, a treatable condition that otherwise is associated with significant mortality. Here we report a rare case of severe gastrointestinal CMV infection with sustained immunodeficiency secondary to treatment with steroids manifesting as fatal duodenal diverticular bleeding.
A 54-year-old female patient with hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus type 2 was brought to emergency room by the family members for acute change in mental status. The laboratory evaluation demonstrated findings consistent with acute renal failure (normal renal function 3 months prior to presentation). She was initiated on hemodialysis due to lack of improvement in renal function. Urine culture done prior to initiation of antibiotics was positive for Escherichia coli, which was later confirmed by renal biopsy. Extensive workup for the cause of renal failure including for connective tissue disease, plasmacytoma, obstruction was negative. She was treated with 6 week course of antibiotics with eventual recovery of her renal function in 4 months.
IntroductionPortal hypertension results from increased resistance to portal blood flow and has the potential complications of variceal bleeding and ascites. The splenoportal veins increase in caliber with worsening portal hypertension, and partially decompress by opening a shunt with systemic circulation, ie, a varix. In the event of portosystemic shunting, there is a differential decompression across the portal vein and splenic vein (portal vein > splenic vein), with a resultant decrease in the ratio of portal vein diameter to that of splenic vein. Portal vein to splenic vein diameter ratio and gradient could be valuable tools in predicting the presence of portosystemic shunting.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed patients with cirrhosis who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for variceal screening and had a computerized tomogram (CT) of the abdomen within 6 months of the index endoscopic study, between January 2009 and December 2013. Patients on nonselective beta blockers, patients with presinusoidal portal hypertension (portal vein thrombosis or extrinsic compression), and patients who had undergone portosystemic shunting procedures (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt [TIPS]) or balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) were excluded from the study. Splenic and portal vein diameters were measured (in mm) just proximal and distal to the splenomesenteric venous confluence, respectively.ResultsA total of 164 patients were included in the study; of these, 60% (n=98) were male and 40% (n=66) were female. The mean age of the study population was 58.7 years. A total of 126 patients (77%) had varices, while 38 patients (33%) did not. The mean Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score was 5.9 for those who had varices as compared with 7.03 for those who did not. The mean of ratios of portal vein to splenic vein diameters in patients with varices was 1.27 (±0.2), while it was 1.5 (±0.23) in those without varices. This difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The mean of the gradients between the portal vein and splenic vein diameters was 2.7 (±2) mm for patients with varices as compared with 5 (±1.8) mm in those without varices. This difference was also statistically different (P<0.001). These correlations were statistically significant even after controlling for age, sex, and MELD. These radiological indices also had statistically significant correlations with the presence of gastric varices (P=0.018 for the ratio and P=0.01 for the gradient). A discriminant function analysis was performed that generated the equation: D = 2.68 (ratio of portal vein to splenic vein diameters) + 0.187 (gradient of portal vein to splenic vein diameters, in mm) − 4.152. This equation had a very high sensitivity, of 95%, but low specificity, of 26.3%, in predicting the presence of esophageal varices.ConclusionBoth venous diameter ratio (portal vein size/splenic vein size) and venous diameter gradient in mm (portal vein size – splenic vein size) calculated from CTs of the abdomen were good ...
A 37-year-old woman from Puerto Rico presented to our clinic with symptoms of an abdominal distension progressively worsening over 1 year. A CT of an abdomen and pelvis with contrast was performed and revealed bilateral large heterogeneous pelvic adnexal masses with large ascites and right pleural effusion. Tumour markers CA 125 was 766 U/mL and lactate dehydrogenase was 654 U/L. She underwent total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection and partial omentectomy. Pathology of ovarian masses revealed a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The staging work-up was negative, which pointed towards the diagnosis of primary ovarian lymphoma. The patient completed 8 cycles of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisolone chemotherapy. After 18 months of chemotherapy completion, she remains in remission.
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