ABSTRACT
There are many causes of chronic abdominal pain and abdominal protrusion. But, they are likely to be confused with diabetic thoracic polyradiculopathy. Differentiation between this self-limiting complication and abdominal herniation is important to avoid unnecessary procedure. We describe the case of 77-years-old man with 10 years history of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, who was suffering from postherpetic neuralgia for 10 months and presented with a abdominal segmental paresis and protrusion. The paraspinal electromyography showed bilateral lower thoracic radiculopathy.
Subject(s)
Humans , Abdominal Pain , Diabetes Mellitus , Electromyography , Neuralgia, Postherpetic , Paresis , Polyradiculopathy , Radiculopathy , Stress, Psychological , Unnecessary ProceduresABSTRACT
Segmentally distributed cutaneous eruptions along with sensory change and pain are frequently seen in herpes zoster. Occasionally it affects motor nerves in the segments corresponding to the involved sensory dermatomes, causing a flaccid paralysis. Motor weakness following herpes zoster infection has been well documented, with about half of the cases involving the cranial nerves and the other half involving the extremities. Interestingly, myotomal paresis involving the thoracic segment is unusual. We report a case of segmental herpes zoster paralysis presenting as an abdominal protrusion.