Recognizing a disease with a drum-like abdomen, Buga syndrome

  Inferior venacavasyndrome (IVCS) is a series of clinical symptoms caused by partial or complete obstruction of the inferior vena cava due to invasion or compression of the inferior vena cava by adjacent lesions or intracavitary thrombosis, resulting in impaired blood flow in the inferior vena cava.  Bugat’s syndrome was first identified and named by the French physician Bourgogne in the early 20th century, and is a disease of vascular origin. It is a rare and difficult disease that is often misdiagnosed and mistreated because of its lack of specific symptoms, and it has been called the “sister” disease of hepatitis because its clinical symptoms and their regression resemble post-hepatitis cirrhosis.  The misdiagnosis and mistreatment rate of this disease is quite high, according to statistics, the misdiagnosis rate of this disease is as high as 83.6%. Some even treat it as hepatitis cirrhosis for decades. Others diagnose it as nephritis, pericarditis, peritonitis, and a few are also misdiagnosed as saphenous varicose vein, spermatic varicose vein and done surgery, bringing unnecessary pain to the patients.  Although the symptoms of Buga syndrome and hepatitis are very similar, the former is more symptomatic while the liver function damage is often less severe. In addition, the pathogenesis and treatment of the two are very different, so they can still be differentiated. For example, hepatitis is caused by a viral infection that attacks the liver and causes liver cell damage, which needs to be treated with medication, while Buga’s syndrome is caused by obstruction of the return of the liver and inferior vena cava, stasis and swelling in the liver, causing liver cell damage.  Buga’s syndrome is characterized by a high incidence in young and middle-aged people, a high incidence in men, and simultaneous obstruction of the liver and inferior vena cava. After the disease, the pressure of both the liver and the inferior vena cava is elevated, which can be two times higher than normal. Therefore, the main points of diagnosis are: “one black” – skin pigmentation of lower limbs, “two large” – stasis of liver and spleen enlargement, “three varicose” – thoracic and abdominal wall veins, spermatic vein, saphenous vein varicose, “two more” – The liver ultrasonography is non-invasive.  Ultrasonography of the liver is the earliest and fastest way to detect the disease, so it is called the “outpost examination”. Inferior vena cava angiography is the “gold standard” because it can clarify the diagnosis and differentiate the type and provide a good basis for designing a treatment plan.  The treatment of Buga syndrome is based on restoring blood flow to the inferior vena cava according to its cause. It can be cured by surgically relieving the inferior vena cava from invasion by adjacent lesions, compression or intraluminal thrombosis, and by dilating the partially or completely blocked inferior vena cava through interventional procedures.