Case Report
Lipemic serum in hyperlipidemic pancreatitis
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* Corresponding author: Konstantinos Michalakis kostismichalakis@hotmail.com
1 NIH, Endocrine Department, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
2 University of Athens Medical School Department of Pathophysiology and Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research, Greece
Cases Journal 2009, 2:198 doi:10.1186/1757-1626-2-198
Published: 18 November 2009Abstract
Background
A 37 year-old man presented to the emergency department complaining of six hour diffuse abdominal pain accompanied by persistent vomiting.
Case report
The patient had a heavy meal a few hours before. There were no signs of peritonitis. Routine laboratory examinations revealed leukocytosis, hyperglycemia and hyperamylasemia (serum amylase: 380 mg/dl, urinary amylase: 1150 mg/dl).
Conclusion
The lipid profile revealed an impressive elevation of triglycerides (4800 mg/dl) and cholesterol (1009 mg/dl) levels. The serum was extremely lipemic. The abdomen computed tomography confirmed the diagnosis of pancreatitis.