Segmental Zoster Abdominal Paresis without Skin Rash

Abstract

An 80-year-old man with a history of dementia presented with a chief complaint of an abdominal mass (Picture 1). He did not complain of any abdominal pain and also had no tenderness. Computed tomography (CT) showed no bowel herniation but a thinning of the transverse abdominal muscle (Picture 2). His wife mentioned that he had a skin rash in the same area two weeks before this visit. Based on this history, he was diagnosed to have segmental zoster abdominal paresis.At the 2-month follow-up, the abdominal deformity had improved (Picture 3) and the muscle thinning on CT had also improved (Picture 4). Although this disease has been

Abdominal pseudohernia as an exceptional complication of herpes-zoster

“…Imaging studies are recommended to rule out a parietal defect and thus eliminate the possibility of a hernia. Furthermore, thinning of the parietal muscles may be observed, consistent with the zoster-related damage [ 6 ]. Also, EMG can be used to detect any nerve-conduction abnormalities in the abdominal wall muscles, which was not the case for our patient [ 5 ].…”