Authors: Tu Nguyen Aijaz Ahmed
Publish Date: 2009/07/02
Volume: 54, Issue: 10, Pages: 2053-2055
Abstract
A 62yearold male with a past medical history of hyperlipidemia initially developed symptoms of nausea dyspepsia and mild abdominal bloating Over the course of the ensuing 3 weeks he progressively developed increasing abdominal girth and abdominal ultrasound revealed a small echogenic liver and ascites The diagnosis of decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis was made based on a history of previous chronic alcohol use 2–3 glasses of wine nightly though he had quit alcohol 2 years prior Over the next 2 months he had serial therapeutic paracenteses performed every 4 weeks to relieve the abdominal distension and he was administered spironolactone After the last therapeutic paracentesis he was admitted to a local hospital with worsening abdominal pain and fever Laboratory studies revealed leukocytosis 14100/mm3 creatinine 19 mg/dl aspartate aminotransferase 10 U/l alanine aminotransferase 8 U/l and international normalized ratio for
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