title: Life-threatening acute gastric dilatation with aorta compression in a 3-year-old child.
abstract: We report a fatal case of acute gastric dilatation in a 3-year old boy who presented with severe abdominal pain and massive gastric distension in the emergency room. On physical examination the patient was in shock due to acute abdomen and lower limb ischemia. Initial laboratory findings showed multi-organ failure with acute renal failure and pancreatitis. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed marked dilatation of the stomach resulting in compression of the abdominal aorta. The left kidney, spleen and pancreas were not visible on CT due to the necrotic changes. The patient was quickly stabilized by initial volume resuscitation, but suddenly deteriorated immediately after gastric decompression via nasogastric tube, and died from multi-organ failure 3 h after initial presentation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ah Young
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Se Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Lucy Youngmin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4577-3168
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Eun
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D013271:Gastric Dilatation / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: aorta compression; child; gastric dilatation