title: Protein-losing enteropathy in congestive heart failure: diagnosis by means of a simple method.
abstract: Protein-losing enteropathy is frequently overlooked in patients suffering from congestive heart failure. Although textbooks often quote heart failure as one of the causes of protein-losing enteropathy, this association has not been clearly documented in the literature. Furthermore, conventional diagnostic techniques for protein-losing enteropathy are both cumbersome and time-consuming. We report the first case of protein-losing enteropathy of a 79 year-old lady who suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy. The profound hypoalbuminemia could not be explained by urinary loss or impaired hepatic synthesis. Protein-losing enteropathy was confirmed by means of Technetium-99m- (99mTc) labelled human serum albumin scintigraphy which showed diffuse activity in the entire colon. The use of this simple and non-invasive diagnostic technique in protein-losing enteropathy is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. fklchan@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: F K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: V T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Yeung
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003106:Colon / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D011504:Protein-Losing Enteropathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin
chemical_list: D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin