A renal transplant patient with intractable hiccups and review of the literature

Abstract

Intractable hiccups in transplanted patients may be caused by various medical conditions including infections. We report a case of a 44-year-old man who suffered from intractable hiccups after cadaveric kidney transplantation. We identified 3 different hiccup periods with different causes: 1) steroid and anesthetics use, 2) severe ulcerose herpetic and mycotic esophagitis, and 3) pleuropneumonia caused by nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis and pulmonary abscess requiring thoracic surgery.