Fulminant ischaemic colitis with atypical clinical features complicating sickle cell disease
- 1Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Long Island Jewish Medical Center
- 2Hematology and Oncology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center
- 3Pathology, St Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital
- 4Pathology, Long Island Jewish Medical Centre
- Correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Leonard J Rossoff, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Long Island Campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Room C-20, 270–05 76th Avenue, New Hyde Park, NY 11042, USA; anitakarim00{at}yahoo.com
- Received 11 June 2001
- Accepted 30 January 2002
Abstract
Clinically significant ischaemic bowel injury is an exceedingly rare complication of sickle cell disease. It manifests as acute surgical abdomen and may respond to conservative treatment. An unusual fatal case of ischaemic colitis with minimal abdominal findings in a young male during a sickle cell vaso-occlusive pain crisis is described. This case demonstrates that an acute surgical abdomen should be considered in such patients who fail to respond to conservative management as untreated this condition may be fatal.
