title: Gas-producing infection of the spleen in a super-super-obese patient.
abstract: Gas-producing bacteria are known to selectively colonize a variety of abdominal viscera, but gas-producing infection limited to the spleen until now has not been reported. A gas-producing (emphysematous) infection of the spleen was diagnosed in a super-super-obese diabetic patient with abdominal pain and signs of sepsis. The patient presented a serious diagnostic challenge because massive abdominal obesity did not enable her to pass through the aperture of a standard computerized tomography unit. Therapeutic options were limited because computerized tomography-guided drainage or splenectomy were technically not feasible or were considered too risky.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, St. Elisabeth Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. serge.landen@chello.be
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Landen
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Closset
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D004646:Emphysema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005740:Gases; D006801:Humans; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013158:Splenic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D005740:Gases