Acute Right Lower Quadrant Pain in a Patient With Leukemia

Abstract Typhlitis or neutropenic enterocolitis is a life-threatening, necrotizing process of the cecum whose incidence is increasing. It is usually encountered in patients with leukemia who have recently undergone chemotherapy. Neutropenic enterocolitis presents as fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea in neutropenic patients. As the incidence of neutropenic enterocolitis increases, emergency physicians must be aware of this rapidly progressive and potentially fatal disease. [de Brito D, Barton E, Spears KL, Cranmer HH, Karp SJ, Anglin D, Hutson HR: Acute right lower quadrant pain in a patient with leukemia. Ann Emerg Med July 1998;32:98-101.]