Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2020 Nov 20;31(4):347-353.
eCollection 2020 Nov.

Broadening the List of Differential Diagnosis for Acute Abdomen - a Case Report from Nepal

Vivek Pant  1 , Keyoor Gautam  2 , Devish Pyakurel  2 , Aabha Shrestha  2 , Santosh Pradhan  1 , Neeraj Joshi  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Broadening the List of Differential Diagnosis for Acute Abdomen - a Case Report from Nepal

Vivek Pant et al. EJIFCC. .

Abstract

When a patient has an acute abdominal pain, it is important to identify if the underlying cause is life threatening. To that end, a thorough medical history and relevant investigation will be pivotal. Here we report a case of lead toxicity where the patient presented with an acute abdomen following intake of Ayurvedic medicines. The baseline blood lead level was 82.3 μg/dl. The Ayurvedic medicines when analyzed for its lead content, revealed high lead concentration. We observed that the cessation of Ayurvedic medication along with D-penicillamine therapy was beneficial in reducing the blood lead level and in alleviating abdominal pain. Our findings implicate the need of awareness program regarding the potential health hazards associated with the use Ayurvedic medicines.

Keywords: acute abdomen; ayurvedic medicine; blood lead level; lead toxicity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient blood lead level (BLL) versus hemoglobin (Hb) trended over time
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gautam K, Pant V, Pradhan S, Pyakurel D, Bhandari B, Shrestha A. Blood lead levels in rag-pickers of Kathmandu and its association with hematological and biochemical parameters. EJIFCC. 2020. June; 31(2):125. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Papanikolaou NC, Hatzidaki EG, Belivanis S, Tzanakakis GN, Tsatsakis AM. Lead toxicity update. A brief review. Medical science monitor. 2005. October 1; 11(10):RA329-RA336. - PubMed
    1. Sakai T. Biomarkers of lead exposure. Industrial health. 2000; 38(2):127-142. - PubMed
    1. Van Vonderen MG, Klinkenberg-Knol EC, Craanen ME, Touw DJ, Meuwissen SG, De Smet PA. Severe gastrointestinal symptoms due to lead poisoning from Indian traditional medicine. The American journal of gastroenterology. 2000. June 1; 95(6):1591. - PubMed
    1. Raviraja A, Babu GV, Sehgal A, Saper RB, Jayawardene I, Amarasiriwardena CJ, Venkatesh T. Three cases of lead toxicity associated with consumption of ayurvedic medicines. Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry. 2010. July 1; 25(3):326-329. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources