Multiple Liver Lesions in an Immunosuppressed Patient: Is Infection Always the Answer

Abstract

Pylephlebitis with associated liver abscesses is a rare complication of Crohn's disease that usually presents in the setting of active disease and recent escalation of the immunosuppressive regimen. Here we describe a 17-year-old female patient with active Crohn's disease who presented with a clinical picture and hepatic radiographic findings concerning for pylephlebitis and associated liver abscesses but subsequently confirmed to be an atypical form of focal fatty liver infiltration. We describe the diagnostic difficulty this unique distribution of hepatic fatty infiltration can present and highlight the importance of the different imaging studies to differentiate between atypical focal fatty infiltration and pylephlebitis.

Keywords

• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Pylephlebitis
• Liver abscess
• Focal fatty liver disease