Abstract |
A 44-year-old man developed bouts of fever (up to 40 degrees C) seven days after returning from a holiday in Kenya. Malaria prophylaxis with chloroquine had been correctly undertaken. Concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase and total bilirubin were raised (493 U/l and 3.55 mg/dl, respectively). Blood smear revealed the ring forms of Plasmodium falciparum. Thereupon the patient was given mefloquine in decreasing doses (750/500/250 mg) at intervals of 8 hours. The following night he had a circulatory collapse and complained of pain on pressure, especially in the left upper abdomen. Abdominal sonography showed a slightly enlarged spherical spleen with an echo-poor band and fluid collection in the rectovesicular pouch, indicating rupture of the spleen. A splenectomy was performed. Subsequently the number of malaria organisms in the blood smear gradually fell and signs of haemolysis disappeared. Splenic rupture is a very rare complication of acute malaria. It is presumably caused by marked stasis in the splenic sinuses with deformed parasite-containing red blood cells.
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Authors | S Falk, H Protz, U Köbrich, H J Stutte |
Journal | Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946)
(Dtsch Med Wochenschr)
Vol. 117
Issue 22
Pg. 854-7
(May 29 1992)
ISSN: 0012-0472 [Print] Germany |
Vernacular Title | Spontane Milzruptur bei akuter Malaria tropica. |
PMID | 1597109
(Publication Type: Case Reports, English Abstract, Journal Article)
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Topics |
- Acute Disease
- Adult
- Combined Modality Therapy
- Diagnosis, Differential
- Humans
- Malaria, Falciparum
(complications, diagnosis, therapy)
- Male
- Rupture, Spontaneous
- Spleen
(pathology)
- Splenic Rupture
(diagnosis, etiology, therapy)
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