Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst masquerading as diffuse alveolar haemorrhage
  1. Heather Lynn Clark,
  2. Lijo C Illipparambil and
  3. Sandhya Khurana
  1. Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Lijo C Illipparambil; lijo_illipparambil{at}urmc.rochester.edu

Abstract

Pancreatic pseudocyst formation with extension into the mediastinum is an uncommon complication of pancreatitis that can result in numerous pulmonary and cardiac complications. We present a case of a 56-year-old man with a history of recurrent pancreatitis who presented with haemoptysis. His initial workup was consistent with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage for which he was treated with glucocorticoids. After failure to improve, further imaging demonstrated a complex fluid collection in the mediastinum consistent with extension of his pre-existing pancreatic pseudocyst, leading to erosion into the right lower lobe of the lung. This case highlights a rare pulmonary complication of pancreatitis and underscores the importance of proper identification of this condition to guide successful management.

  • respiratory medicine
  • pancreas and biliary tract
  • pancreatitis

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Contributors HCL and LCI contributed equally to care of the patient and preparation of this manuscript. SK was attending physician for the patient and edited this manuscript.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.