A rare emphysematous splenic infection caused by diabetes mellitus: a case report

Emphysematous splenic infection is a rare disease. In this case, a 33-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 10-day history of left-upper-quadrant abdominal pain and intermittent fever. She positively denied any previous history of illness or trauma. On admission to the hospital, her white-cell count, neutrophil percentage, C-reactive protein level, blood glucose, and urine glucose were higher than normal. Computed tomography (CT) revealed gas-fluid levels and infection in the spleen. After multidisciplinary consultation and discussions, the patient was diagnosed with emphysema spleen infection and diabetes, and the infection was most likely related to the diabetes. The patient was treated with antibiotics, hypoglycemic therapy, and transabdominal spleen infection puncture and drainage. Finally, the patient's infection and blood sugar were controlled, and the drainage fluid was unobstructed. To the best of our knowledge, emphysematous spleen infection has only been reported once previously in a super obese female patient in 2007. Interestingly, the patient in the present case was also an obese and diabetic middle-aged woman. Similar to other documented emphysematous infection cases, the disease onset of our patient was indistinct and insidious. Due to advances in imaging tools and knowledge of emphysematous nephritis, the patient was successfully diagnosed and treated in time.