Acute Colonic Pseudo-Obstruction (Ogilvie’s syndrome) as a Complication of Herpes Zoster

Abstract

Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction (Ogilvie's syndrome) is a very rare complication of herpes zoster. A 62-year-old female visited our hospital due to abdominal pain. Skin lesions of herpes zoster had developed after the patient experienced symptoms of colonic obstruction. The symptoms of colonic obstruction resulted in more suffering for the patient than did those of herpes zoster. In cases reported previously in Korea, these symptoms were improved by endoscopic colonic decompression. However, the symptoms of this patient were improved by conservative treatment only, which included fasting and intravenous fluid replacement. Furthermore, this case differs from previous cases in terms of the difficulty of diagnosis due to the delayed appearance of the skin lesions. We present herein the first case in Korea of Ogilvie's syndrome as a complication of herpes zoster, which was improved by conservative treatment. Clinicians should be aware of the various unusual complications of herpes zoster.