Korean J Gastroenterol.  2010 Mar;55(3):198-202. 10.4166/kjg.2010.55.3.198.

A Case of Pleural Effusion Associated with Acute Hepatitis A

• Ko YS
• Yoo KD
• Hyun YS
• Chung HR
• Park SY
• Kim SM
• Jeon YC

• KMID: 1775903
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2010.55.3.198

Abstract

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is common in developing countries, including Korea. It can be accompanied by extrahepatic complications such as renal failure, arthritis, and vasculitis. Pleural effusion is a very rare complication of HAV infection, which has been reported usually in children, and has benign clinical courses. Here we report a case of pleural effusion with ascites which occurred in an adult hepatitis A patient. A 26-year-old-woman presented generalized myalgia and fever and was diagnosed as acute hepatitis A. Despite of the improvement of laboratory findings, fever and cough persisted. Pleural effusion newly appeared on the serial chest radiologic images. After the fever settled down, the pleural effusion resolved spontaneously at 13th day of admission.

Keyword

Acute hepatitis A; Complications; Pleural effusion

MeSH Terms

Acute Disease
Adult
Female
Hepatitis A/complications/*diagnosis
Humans
Pleural Effusion/complications/*diagnosis/radiography
Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Chest radiography. Right pleural effusion appeared at the 6th day in hospital (posteroanterior view).

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  Fig. 2. Computer tomography. Right side pleural effusion was observed (A). Minimal amount of left side pleural effusion and ascites was observed (B).

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