Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0021843 (bowel obstruction)
 9,927 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Two patients with long-standing fever and weight loss underwent extensive diagnostic procedures before peritoneal tuberculosis was diagnosed by explorative laparatomy. By that time they had developed signs of intestinal obstruction. Both recovered after treatment, but one developed serious neurological complications, which could not be explained. Peritoneal tuberculosis is a manifestation of tuberculosis that is often difficult to diagnose. It should be borne in mind when diagnosing patients with fever of unknown origin, especially if they are originally from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis.
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PMID:Peritoneal tuberculosis in two young immigrants with fever of unknown origin. 149

Sclerosing mesenteritis is a rare disease of the mesenterium of unknown cause and chronic evolution. Two presentations have been reported: mesenteric panniculitis and retractile mesenteritis; inflammation of mesenteric fat predominates in one of them, while fibrotic thickening and shortening of the mesenterium is characteristic of the other. We report two cases of sclerosing mesenteritis which presented in very different ways. One patient suffered an episode of intestinal obstruction, and the second one was admitted for evaluation of fever of unknown origin (FUO). While intestinal obstruction is a relatively common complication of sclerosing mesenteritis, its presentation as a FUO is exceptional.
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PMID:[Sclerosing mesenteritis. Report of two cases with different clinical presentation]. 1283 1

Infective endocarditis (IE) of the mitral valve (MV) manifesting paravalvular abscess (PA) is challenging. A 30-year-old woman presented with PA fistulating to the left ventricle, detachment of the coronary sinus and systemic embolization. During a course of fever of unknown origin, the patient received laparoscopic surgery under the diagnosis of strangulating intestinal obstruction due to colitis. Following abdominal surgery, abscess having blood flow within it from the left ventricle was pointed out at the left ventriculo-atrial junction by transthoracic echocardiography. Emergency surgery was performed under the diagnosis of PA of MV. Abscess debridement followed by reconstruction of the mitral annulus and coronary sinus with fresh autologous pericardium and mitral valve replacement (MVR) using a mechanical prosthetic valve were successfully performed. Timely and accurate diagnosis followed by the early surgical intervention with aggressive debridement of abscess and reconstruction with autologous pericardium should improve the outcome of this high-risk disease.
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PMID:Paravalvular abscess of the mitral valve with fistula to the left ventricle and detachment of the coronary sinus in a young woman. 2366 46

In this paper, abdominal ultrasound examination as a point-of-care examination (POCUS) is discussed. POCUS is very useful in various clinical situations, especially for the diagnosis of critically ill patients with non-specific symptoms. In patients with an unknown fever origin, POCUS can detect unexpected infection foci such as liver abscesses. Pseudomembranous colitis, which is one of the important causes of fever during/after the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and sometimes difficult to diagnose or even suspect as the cause of fever, can also be diagnosed with POCUS. Malignancies such as malignant lymphoma are also frequent causes of fever of unknown origin and, with POCUS, we have diagnosed many cases with malignant tumors presenting only with low-grade fever. Abdominal fullness is another common symptom of critically ill patients. POCUS is very useful for differentiation among several diseases causing abdominal fullness. Ascites is expressed as anechoic fluid in the abdominal cavity, while bowel obstruction as bowel distention presenting the so-called keyboard sign. Urinary retention, often misdiagnosed as bowel obstruction or an abdominal tumor, is also easily diagnosed by POCUS. It is very difficult to detect the occult causes of exacerbation of the general condition and/or markedly abnormal laboratory data in critically ill patients under endotracheal intubation or the influence of sedative agents, which make it difficult for the patients to complain of their symptoms. Attending physicians should make the best of POCUS as a useful diagnostic modality for these patients.
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PMID:[Point-of-Care Abdominal Ultrasound]. 2654 36