Association of three H - Hookworm, hemosuccus pancreaticus, and hypertension (portal) in a patient with melena

oleh: Pratibha Kale, Monalisa Sahu, Nishant Verma, Bijay Ranjan Mirdha

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017-01-01

Deskripsi

Hookworm infestations, endemic in India, are a common cause of iron deficiency anemia. Hemosuccus pancreaticus, a rare clinical condition, is due to passage of blood into the pancreatic duct possibly through a route between an aneurysm of an artery close to the pancreas and/or pancreatic duct, leading to gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Portal hypertensive upper GI bleed is also known since long. We report a case of a 38-year-old male with a history of alcoholism who was being investigated for GI bleeding who had concomitant hookworm infestation, hemosuccus pancreaticus as well as portal hypertension. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of common occurrence of hemosuccus pancreaticus and portal hypertension with hookworm infection. This case signifies the importance of infectious causes of GI bleeding to be considered even in cases where anatomic malformations or pathophysiological alterations are predominant.