Alcoholism and Sudden Abdominal Distention in a 48-Year-Old

Jennifer L. Martindale, MD; Jonathan Elmer, MD; Joshua M. Kosowsky, MD

July 06, 2020

In this case, the patient's postprocedural course was characterized initially by worsening liver failure, elevated intra-abdominal pressures, and confusion. He eventually progressed to frank encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, and pneumonia. Ultimately, the decision was made by the family to employ only comfort measures, and the patient expired 12 days after presentation.

Although rare, the diagnosis of a bleeding ectopic varix is important to consider because it requires aggressive resuscitation and rapid intervention. However, even with rapid diagnosis and therapy, the mortality associated with ectopic variceal rupture remains exceedingly high, as evidenced by this patient.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6

Next Section

Cite this: Alcoholism and Sudden Abdominal Distention in a 48-Year-Old - Medscape - Jul 06, 2020.

Comments

Commenting is limited to medical professionals. To comment please Log-in.

Comments on Medscape are moderated and should be professional in tone and on topic. You must declare any conflicts of interest related to your comments and responses. Please see our Commenting Guide for further information. We reserve the right to remove posts at our sole discretion.

processing....

Alcoholism and Sudden Abdominal Distention in a 48-Year-Old

References

Authors and Disclosures

Authors and Disclosures

Authors

Jennifer L. Martindale, MD

Jonathan Elmer, MD

Joshua M. Kosowsky, MD

Editors

Craig A Goolsby, MD

Usama Basit, MD, MBBS

Tomasz Guzowski, MD, FRCPC

S.A. Jamal Bokhari, MD

Luis M. Soler, BA

Comments

Email This

Feedback

Confirm

Update