Omental infarction: case series and review of the literature.
BACKGROUND
Omental infarction is a rare disease entity that can cause acute or subacute abdominal pain. In the past, it was thought that omental infarction mainly occurred on the right side because it was detected when surgery was performed on patients who complained of abdominal pain on the right side.


OBJECTIVE
We present this case to demonstrate that omental infarction can occur at any site, including the epigastric area and the lower abdomen, and even on the left side where the greater omentum is located.


METHODS
Four patients with omental infarction presented to the Emergency Department with various clinical symptoms. All of them were diagnosed by computed tomography scan. Omental infarction occurred on the right side in 2 patients, at the epigastric area in 1 patient, and on the left side in 1 patient. Three were improved with supportive care. Laparoscopy was performed in 1 patient because his abdominal pain persisted despite conservative treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Omental infarction should be included in the differential diagnosis list of acute abdominal pain because it can occur at any site. In addition, because this disease runs a self-limited course, conservative care is recommended. Thus, unnecessary operations can be avoided in cases where omental infarction is diagnosed by imaging studies.
Park
Tae Ung
TU
Department of Emergency Medicine, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Oh
Je Hyeok
JH
Chang
In Taek
IT
Lee
Sang Jin
SJ
Kim
Sung Eun
SE
Kim
Chan Woong
CW
Choe
Ju Won
JW
Lee
Kwang Jung
KJ
D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000209:etiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007238:Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009852:Omentum / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed