Advanced anorexia nervosa, associated with pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, and soft-tissue emphysema without Esophageal lesion
✍ Scribed by Danzer, Gerhard ;Mulzer, Johanna ;Weber, Gerrit ;Lembke, Alexander ;Kocalevent, Rüya ;Klapp, Burghard F.
- Publisher
- Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
- Year
- 2005
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 74 KB
- Volume
- 38
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-3478
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Objective
We describe the case of a 20‐year‐old female patient suffering from anorexia nervosa since the age 15 of years. When admitted, she was 168 cm tall with a weight of 35 kg (body mass index [BMI] = 12.4). A week after admission, the patient complained of retrosternal pain, and a few hours later she developed extensive soft‐tissue emphysema.
Methods
The X‐ray picture of her thorax showed left‐hand supraclavicular and infraclavicular emphysema, extensive emphysema in both sides of the soft tissue of the throat, a left‐hand apical pneumothorax (4 mm), and a pneumomediastinum.
Results
We discuss the extent to which these symptoms are interrelated in the sense of a causal nexus.
Conclusion
We ruled out any other differential‐diagnostic etiopathogenic factors and concluded that the cause of our patient's soft‐tissue emphysema, pneumothorax, and pneumomediastinum might well be autodestructive behavior. © 2005 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.