A giant portal vein thrombosis as a complication of cryotherapy
Tolga Şahin1, Ayfer Serin1, Nagihan İnan Gürcan2, Birkan Bozkurt3, Ertan Emek3, Yaman Tokat4
1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Demiroğlu Bilim University Medicine Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
2Department of Radiology, Demiroğlu Bilim University Medicine Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
3Department of Radiology, Demiroğlu Bilim University Medicine Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
4Department of Organ Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Demiroğlu Bilim University Şişli Florence Nightingale Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Abdominal pain; portal vein thrombosis; shoulder pain; whole-body cryotherapy
Abstract
Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is frequently observed as a complication of certain malignant or benign conditions. In this article, we report a 42-year-old male patient with no history of previous illness who applied to our emergency department due to severe abdominal pain in all four quadrants. One week prior to the incident, the patient had started whole-body cryotherapy as a remedy for shoulder pain. Routine and detailed etiology-oriented laboratory tests showed no abnormalities. The patient was diagnosed with acute PVT based on abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan findings. The patient was started on intravenous heparin infusion, after which the state of thrombosis was reassessed with follow-up CT scans. When the thrombus receded, oral intake was started. The patient was followed-up for several days and discharged with instructions for the use of low-molecular- weight heparin. Portal vein thrombosis may be an acute complication of whole-body cryotherapy, as discussed in this case.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.