Abdominal distension natural history, complications and prognosis

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

• Complications are few if the cause of the abdominal distension is gas or a dietary intolerance.
• Complications of celiac sprue include malnutrition.
• Some causes of abdominal distension can lead to death, such as an abdominal aortic aneurysm, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and ovarian cancer.
• Bowel obstruction can lead to bowel necrosis and death.

The outlook and prognosis for abdominal distension is fairly good if the cause is gas or a dietary intolerance. Prognosis is poor if ovarian cancer is the cause of the bloating, and varies with liver disease. Depending on the severity of the liver disease, Other causes will have a variable prognosis and is based on the diagnosis and the time at which the diagnosis is made.

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