[Unusual features of perihepatitis in the differential diagnosis of upper abdominal pain]

Over a period of 3 years acute perihepatitis has been diagnosed in 7 women. Clinically the pain was localized to the right upper abdomen in 4, whereas 1 patient complained of bilateral upper quadrant pain; 2 patients presented with exclusively left-sided upper abdominal symptoms. In the literature perihepatitis is characterized clinically as a syndrome limited to the right upper abdominal quadrant. However, our own experience shows that this disease entity must also be considered in the differential diagnosis of left-sided upper abdominal pain in young female patients.