An easily overlooked cause of abdominal pain

Abstract

A 63 year old female presented to the emergency department with a several month history of intermittent right upper quadrant abdominal pain, early satiety with loss of appetite, and an unintentional weight loss of 8. She underwent a battery of tests that returned negative and subsequently sent for Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) of the abdomen revealing luminal stenosis of the proximal 1 cm of the celiac axis estimating 90% occlusion and a patent SMA and IMA with, typical for median arcuate ligament syndrome. The symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options are discussed.

Keywords

• Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS)
• postprandial pain
• unintentional weight loss