A rare cause of right-upper quadrant abdominal pain: Epiploic appendagitis of the hepatic flexure

Vincenzo Cirimele; Giulia D'Amone; Milena Ricci; Rebecca Casati; Raffaele Ragone; Adriano Redi; Eliodoro Faiella

doi:10.1016/j.radcr.2023.07.005

A rare cause of right-upper quadrant abdominal pain: Epiploic appendagitis of the hepatic flexure

Radiol Case Rep. 2023 Jul 22;18(10):3434-3437. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2023.07.005. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Vincenzo Cirimele¹, Giulia D'Amone¹, Milena Ricci¹, Rebecca Casati¹, Raffaele Ragone¹, Adriano Redi¹, Eliodoro Faiella¹

Affiliation

¹ Diagnostic Imaging Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 200-00128 Roma, Italy.

Abstract

Epiploic appendagitis (EA) is an uncommon cause of acute abdominal pain that may mimic other causes of acute abdomen. Epiploic appendages are outpouching of fat tissue located on the external wall of the colon, being more numerous in the descending and sigmoid colon that account for up to 80% of EA cases. We present the case of a 59-year-old woman with right upper quadrant pain. Abdominal ultrasound and contrast-enhanced computed tomography suggested the diagnosis of epiploic appendagitis of the right colonic flexure. Our case highlights the fact that epiploic appendagitis may occur in unusual locations and must be included in the differential diagnosis of acute abdominal pain, in order to avoid unnecessary medical and surgical treatment.

Keywords: Acute abdomen; Computed tomography; Emergency radiology; Epiploic appendagitis; Ultrasound.

Publication types

Case Reports