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©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2008; 14(42): 6578-6580
Published online Nov 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.6578
Published online Nov 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.6578
Colonic perforation in Behçet’s syndrome
Catherine M Dowling, Arnold DK Hill, Carmel Malone, Shona Tormey, Enda McDermott, Niall J O'Higgins, Department of Surgery, St. Vincents University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
John J Sheehan, Department of Radiology, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Kieran Sheahan, Department of Pathology, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Author contributions: Authors affliated to the Department of Surgery managed the patient’s diagnosis, surgical treatment and post-operative care and all contributed equally to this paper; Sheehan JJ reported the imaging and Sheahan K reported the histopathology.
Correspondence to: Catherine M Dowling, Department of Surgery, St. Vincents University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland. kathdowling@hotmail.com
Telephone: +353-1-2836247 Fax: +353-1-2836314
Received: June 5, 2008
Revised: July 19, 2008
Accepted: July 26, 2008
Published online: November 14, 2008
Revised: July 19, 2008
Accepted: July 26, 2008
Published online: November 14, 2008
Abstract
A 17-year-old gentleman was admitted to our hospital for headache, the differential diagnosis of which included Behçet’s syndrome (BS). He developed an acute abdomen and was found to have air under the diaphragm on erect chest X-ray. Subsequent laparotomy revealed multiple perforations throughout the colon. This report describes an unusual complication of Behcets syndrome occurring at the time of presentation and a review of the current literature of reported cases.
Keywords: Colonic perforation, Behçet’s syndrome