A 46-year-old man sought care at our clinic for an abdominal mass, fatigue, and shortness of breath. He also indicated that he was feeling depressed.
Four years earlier, he’d had a prolonged hospitalization for severe cor pulmonale, during which he suffered a perforated cecum. He had multiple abdominal surgeries, including a right hemicolectomy. His postoperative course was complicated by multi-system organ failure and several nosocomial infections.
In the wake of his recovery, he developed an anterior midline abdominal mass that slowly enlarged over the following years (FIGURE 1). He sought a surgical consultation, but was deferred because of his high-risk operative profile.
Our examination of the patient revealed an anterior, midline, irregularly shaped mass measuring 14 × 20 in. The nontender mass was hollow to percussion and was not as prominent when the patient was supine.
FIGURE 1
Abdominal mass measuring 14 × 20 in
Four years earlier, this 46-year-old patient had undergone multiple abdominal surgeries. On this visit, he sought care for a nontender mass that was hollow to percussion.
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