Severe Acute Asthma with Bowel Infarction and Pneumatosis Intestinalis in a Young Adult

Abstract

A young patient presented with a small bowel infarction with pneumatosis intestinalis in the early course of life-threatening severe acute asthma. Low cardiac output with severe congestive right heart failure combined with the use of high doses of epinephrine to reverse the near-fatal bronchospasm probably contributed to this previously unreported complication. The presence of gas collections in the submucosal space was possibly the consequence of diffuse small bowel mucosal disruption. Early recognition of this unusual complication is of major importance to ensure appropriate therapeutic management.

• Acidosis
• Bowel infarction
• Epinephrine
• Hypercapnia
• Ischemic hepatitis
• Pneumatosis intestinalis
• Severe acute asthma