title: Abdominal compartment syndrome in a patient with congenital megacolon.
abstract: A 13-year-old male with a history of chronic congenital megacolon presented to the emergency department with a 1-day history of increasing abdominal pain, distension, and emesis. The patient was admitted for bowel disimpaction and irrigation. The patient rapidly developed an acute abdominal compartment syndrome because of his massive colonic dilation. Surgical decompression resulted in a reperfusion phenomenon and ultimately resulted in coagulopathy and patient demise. This case presents a unique cause of the abdominal compartment syndrome and discusses the implications to the emergency physician.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn 11215, USA. rhbirkhahn@pol.net
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Birkhahn
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gaeta
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000293:Adolescent; D003161:Compartment Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005244:Fecal Impaction / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D006627:Hirschsprung Disease / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male