Point-of-care ultrasonography role in detecting inferior vena cava thrombosis in a patient with low back pain: a case report

Published: 9 April 2024
Abstract Views: 102
PDF: 74
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

A 73-year-old woman arrived at the ER claiming to be experiencing low back pain. To investigate the source of her pain, she was admitted to the Internal Medicine department. After a heterogeneous abdominal mass in the right upper quadrant was discovered by abdominal point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS), it was confirmed by an abdominal CT scan, which also identified a metastatic lytic bone lesion in the L4. This finding is consistent with a malignant tumor of the right adrenal gland. POCUS was repeated right after the occurrence of dyspnea, and a 40x6 mm floating thrombus in the inferior vena cava was detected. A conservative approach with anticoagulants was chosen, with improvement of the clinical conditions. The diagnosis of adrenal carcinoma was ultimately made possible by the mass biopsy. POCUS is a safe, low-cost method that provides prompt results at the patient's bedside. We support the implementation of POCUS in all clinical departments, as it provides significant contributions to the assessment of prognosis and diagnosis.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Díaz-Gómez JL, Mayo PH, Koenig SJ. Point-of-care ultrasonography. N Engl J Med 2021;385:1593-602. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1916062
Kim DJ, Bell CR, Jelic T, et al. Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Literature Primer: Key Papers on Renal and Biliary POCUS. Cureus 2023;15:e37294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.37294
Laan DV, Thiels CA, Glasgow A, et al. Adrenocortical carcinoma with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus. Surgery 2017;161:240-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2016.07.040
Rangel C, Scattolin G, Pais-Costa SR, et al. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and salvage surgery for an aldosteroneproducing adrenal carcinoma with inferior vena cava thrombus: case report and literature review. Asian J Surg 2013;36:134-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asjsur.2012.08.008

How to Cite

Castellucci, D., Casado Suela, M. A., Duffort Falco, M., Salillas Hernando, J., Medrano Izquierdo, P., Dimino, A., Carroccio, A., & Torres Macho, J. (2024). Point-of-care ultrasonography role in detecting inferior vena cava thrombosis in a patient with low back pain: a case report. Italian Journal of Medicine, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2024.1719