Acute Liver Failure Secondary to Metastatic Breast Cancer in a Patient with Ulcerative Colitis

[摘要] Background: Acute liver failure (ALF) induced by metastatic disease is rare and has never been described in conjunction with the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) setting. Case Report: Our case report is of a 57-year-old patient diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) admitted to the emergency department with jaundice, abdominal pain and encephalopathy for one week. She had been treated with thiopurine and anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF) for the past four years prior to the admission and denied previous known liver disease. A computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated an enlarged liver with heterogeneous hepatic parenchymal attenuation and diffuse fat deposition, suggesting acute hepatitis. Common causes of ALF were excluded and the immunosuppressive therapy was immediately withdrawn. While in intensive care, the patient experienced acute deterioration of hepatic encephalopathy and died of multi-organ failure. The liver autopsy was consistent with ALF secondary to metastatic undifferentiated breast carcinoma. Conclusion: This is the rare case report of an UC patient that developed ALF secondary to breast cancer.

[学科分类] 生理学

[关键词] Abdominal Pain;Breast Neoplasms;Hepatic Encephalopathy;Jaundice;Ulcerative Colitis.