Epiploic appendagitis: an often-overlooked diagnosis

Abstract

Epiploic appendagitis is an etiology only coming at last of differential diagnoses in the face of acute abdominal pain. The typical patient is often a man between 20 and 50 years old, presenting with non-radiating abdominal pain with nausea, vomiting and inappetence with or without a mild febrile state. Biological assessment most of the time does not show any inflammatory syndrome, although slight elevations in sedimentation rate and CRP are possible. The key imaging for the diagnosis remains the abdominal CT. The treatment is initially conservative via short-term anti-inflammatory treatment. Surgical sanction remains reserved for situations that do not yield to conservative treatment or worsen despite the latter.