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Case Reports: Unusual presentation of more common disease/injury
Rare case of high amylase pleural effusion without pancreatitis, oesophageal rupture or malignancy
  1. Nyrvan Baishya,
  2. Ruchi Dua,
  3. Randeep Singh and
  4. Ajeesh Krishnadas Padmanabhan
  1. Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep medicine, AIIMS Rishikesh, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nyrvan Baishya; nyrvanab{at}gmail.com

Abstract

High amylase pleural effusion remains an entity which includes a wide variety of differentials, with pancreatitis, oesophageal rupture or malignant pleural effusion being most commonly encountered in clinical practice. Keeping the clinical picture (suggestive of pain in abdomen preceding any respiratory complaints) and differentials at hand, the case was evaluated with contrast-enhanced CT of the thorax and abdomen which revealed normal pancreatic architecture and no abnormal communication was noted between the pancreas and pleural space. A contrast oesophagogram, done when pancreatitis was ruled out, showed no evidence of any leak. The patient underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy which was suggestive of an ulcer with fistulous communication with the pleural space. Following nasojejunal feeding and clipping of the fistulous tract the patient’s symptoms improved.

  • Pleural infection
  • Respiratory medicine
  • Pneumothorax
  • Endoscopy
  • Ulcer

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2022-251160

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors NB: main contributing author; RD: drafting the work or revising it. RS and AKP: manuscript conception and design.

    • 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.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

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