Transvaginal evisceration progressing to peritonitis in the emergency department: a case report

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dc.contributor.authorLawson, Luan E.
dc.contributor.authorPatterson, Leigh
dc.contributor.authorCarter, Kelly
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-26T15:58:28Z
dc.date.available2016-05-26T15:58:28Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractBackground Abdominal pain is a common complaint among emergency department patients, making it essential to identify those with life-threatening etiologies. We report on the rare finding of atraumatic transvaginal bowel evisceration in a patient presenting to the emergency department with the primary complaint of abdominal pain. Case Description A 63-year-old female presented ambulatory to the emergency department with abdominal pain and foreign body sensation in her vagina after coughing. Physical exam demonstrated evisceration of her small bowel through her vagina. During her clinical course, she rapidly deteriorated from appearing well without abdominal tenderness to hypotensive with frank peritonitis. Conclusion This case demonstrates the need to perform a thorough physical exam on all patients with abdominal pain and details the management of vaginal evisceration. This case also highlights the difficulty of appropriate triage for patients with complaints not easily assessed in triage. In an era of emergency department crowding, emergency physicians should reevaluate nursing education on triaging abdominal pain to prevent delays in caring for well-appearing patients who have underlying life-threatening illnesses.en_US
dc.identifier.citationInternational Journal of Emergency Medicine; 4: p. 66-66en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1865-1380-4-66
dc.identifier.issn1865-1380
dc.identifier.pmidpmc3208579en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/5392
dc.relation.urihttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208579/en_US
dc.titleTransvaginal evisceration progressing to peritonitis in the emergency department: a case reporten_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
ecu.journal.nameInternational Journal of Emergency Medicineen_US
ecu.journal.pages66-66en_US
ecu.journal.volume4en_US

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