What Causes Shooting Abdominal Pain If Blood Work And CT Scan Are Normal Except For Tiny Spots In The Liver And Kidneys?

Posted on Thu, 29 Mar 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 Answered on

Wed, 24 May 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : My mother is 62 years old and I've watched her health rapidly deteriorate the past 2 years. Most recently, she has had a persistent fever of 100 or more the last 6 months, she's itchy all over, she has an allergic reaction to all types of antibiotics which she has never had before, she is bloated and swollen, she has constant stomach pain, she has diarrhea almost every day, she's out of breath constantly, her lymph nodes are swollen most of the time, her liver enzymes were elevated in January but her last blood work shows them being in normal range again. I finally took her to the er yesterday because she woke up and was jaundice (but after her bath she looked better so I don't understand that) and started having sharp shooting pains in her stomach. Her blood work came back normal and her ct scan was normal with the exception of some tiny spots in her liver and kidneys that were assumed to be cysts. She's always been so healthy and fit and very very tough when it comes to pain and sickness so I know there is something wrong with her and I would love to figure it out to get her feeling better. She's seen a couple of doctors locally that have basically ignored her complaints and she doesn't have insurance so continuing going to drs is not a very financially doable option.

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Could be due to malignancy also.

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

The small spots seen on the CT scan could be malignant also. Okay, I consider it as cyst but what if the cyst is malignant? She is having fever, her lymph nodes are constantly swollen along with other issues. She has been to a number of doctors but yet not feeling relieved.

Does this sound like just an issue with acid? I don't think so. Though I have not examined the patient personally or clinically yet, I am not at all convinced by the fact that the problem is just due to gastric issues only.

Tiny spots in the liver could be a possible lesion due to which she is having indigestion, belching, fever and tender lymph nodes over a period of 2 years and is constantly deteriorating.

She should go for an MRI scan of the abdomen and a fine needle aspiration cytology/Biopsy of the lesion (especially if they are solid) should be done to see if the lesion is malignant or benign.

Please follow up with these tests' reports.

Thank you.

Regards,
Dr. Ramesh Kumar
Gastroenterologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee