Severe hepatoxicity caused by aspirin overdose: a case report

Abstract

We report here the rare case of a 61-year-old man with multiple organ dysfunction caused by an aspirin overdose (4 g orally). The patient presented with a fever that reached 39.2 °C, a peptic ulcer, and massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding. His blood test results were as follows: white blood cell count, 1.8×10⁹/L; absolute lymphocytes, 0.4×10⁹/L; absolute neutrophils, 1.2×10⁹/L; and electrolyte disturbances. A computed tomography (CT) scan showed evidence of bilateral inferior pulmonary infection and acute pancreatitis. Thick dark bile with visible floccule was drawn via a percutaneous transhepatic cholangiodrainage (PTCD). Klebsiella pneumoniae was detected in microbiological bile tests. Two years later, the patient died of chronic liver failure.

Keywords

aspirin / side effects / liver failure

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Compliance with ethics guidelines

Zhuping Cao, Shiqi Liu, Jianhua Niu, Bing Wei, and Jie Xu declare that they have no conflict of interest. All clinical observation procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation at the First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg