Fatal Doudenal Ulcer Bleeding in Status Asthmaticus Treated with Theophylline and Steroids

ABSTRACT

It is generally agreed that theophylline preparations and steroids should be given intravenously for status asthmaticus. Theophylline can potentially have adverse gastrointestinal effects including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and hematemesis. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients treated with corticosteroids without a past history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding has been reported rarely. But the etiologic significance of the stress of status asthmaticus, administration of theophylline or corticosteroids in the development of ulcer has been open to question. We report a case of 8-year-old boy with status asthmaticus treated with these medications and later found to have a bleeding duodenal ulcer for which emergency surgery was necessary.