A case of crohn's disease complicated by a mesenteric abscess and a liver abscess during infliximab regimen

Abstract

Crohn's disease can be associated with a variety of extraintestinal complications, but it is rare that this disease is complicated by liver abscess. Here we report a case of Crohn's disease complicated by a mesenteric abscess and a liver abscess during anti-TNF-alpha therapy (infliximab).
A 49-year-old man, who had undergone partial resection of the small intestine for Crohn's disease two months prior and was receiving scheduled maintenance infusion of infliximab, presented with fever, abdominal pain, and abdominal fullness. Surgical drainage was performed on the 15th hospital day because an abdominal CT scan showed a mesenteric abscess. However, his fever and abdominal pain persisted, and a further abdominal CT scan 10 days after the drainage showed an enlargement of a liver abscess. Therefore, percutaneous transhepatic abscess drainage was performed along with ultrasonography, and this treatment was effective.
In this case, the liver abscess which is an extraintestinal complication of Crohn's disease might be aggravated because he was easily affected by infection due to receiving infliximab.