Unilateral Abdominal Distention due to Diabetic Radiculoneuropathy / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

Diabetic radiculoneuropathy is an uncommon complication of diabetes mellitus that can affect the cervical, thoracic, or lumbosacral nerve roots. When the thoracic nerve roots are affected, it can cause truncal pain and, more rarely, abdominal bulging. A 62-year-old man with diabetes developed sudden pain in his right abdomen with subsequent distention overlying the area for 10 days. Neither vesicular eruptions nor cutaneous scarring was noted. Imaging scans of the abdomen and spinal cord did not reveal any other causes of abdominal distention. Needle electromyography showed evidence of radiculoneuropathy in the right thoracic regions (T6 through T9), and nerve conduction study of the upper and lower extremities also showed evidence suggestive of severe distal symmetric polyneuropathy. With the exclusion of any apparent causes of abdominal distention, a diagnosis of diabetic radiculoneuropathy was made.