Rare presentation of an atrial myxoma in an adolescent patient: A case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Cardiac tumors are uncommon in the pediatric population. When present, cardiac manifestations stem from the tumor causing inflow or outflow obstruction. While common in adults, cardiac myxomas presenting with generalized systemic illness or peripheral emboli especially with no cardiac or neurological symptoms are rare in children. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a previously healthy adolescent girl who presented with a 6-month history of constitutional symptoms and a purpuric rash with no cardiac or neurologic symptoms, found to have a cardiac myxoma. CONCLUSIONS: A vasculopathic rash in the setting of atrial myxomas has been shown be a precursor to significant morbidity and mortality. Due to the rarity of this entity, the time elapsed from onset of non-cardiac symptoms until diagnosis of a myxoma is usually prolonged with interval development of irreversible neurological sequelae and death reported in the literature. Therefore, we highlight the importance of including cardiac myxomas and paraneoplastic vasculitis early in the differential diagnosis for patients presenting with a purpuric rash and systemic symptoms

The Neuro-Ophthalmology of Cerebrovascular Disease

The neuro-ophthalmology of cerebrovascular disease is a vast plain of neuro-ophthalmic vistas, encompassing virtually all areas of disturbances of the eye-brain mechanism. This paper will be restricted to those areas of the neuro-ophthalmology of cerebrovascular disease which one might consider advances in its clinical diagnosis and treatment

Amaurosis Fugax Preceeding Central Retinal Artery Occlusion : a Case Report

Amaurosis fugax is a temporary condition characterized by transient visual loss which lasts several minutes or hours. This symptom can precede central retinal artery occlusion, which can cause permanent visual loss and bear several morbidity and mortality risks. We are reporting a case of a 59-year-old female with an unknown history related to risk factors who developed a painless vision loss in her right eye after experiencing similar symptoms for a short time. We describe the clinical features and other findings related to the diagnosis and discuss the further risk and management. Medical history, physical examination, and optical coherence tomography diagnosed acute central retinal artery occlusion. This includes a history of painless monocular vision loss, macular cherry-red spots, and papilledema. The diagnosis was confirmed by optical coherence tomography showing hyperreflectivity in the inner retinal layer, retinal edema, and hyperreflectivity in the outer retinal layer. Blood test including complete blood check, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C reactive protein, lipid profile, and inflammatory markers within normal limit. The patient was then administered to further secondary vascular occlusion prevention, including a blood test, and referred to the neurology department for further examination. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are necessary for this occlusive disease. A comprehensive examination to mitigate secondary vascular occlusion is needed to prevent morbidity and mortality

Risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, and death among patients with retinal artery occlusion and the effect of antithrombotic treatment

PURPOSE: To evaluate the risk of future stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and death of patients with retinal artery occlusion (RAO) and the effect of various antithrombotic treatments as secondary prevention. METHODS: This cohort study was based on nationwide health registries and included the entire Danish population from 2000 to 2018. All patients with RAO were identified and their adjusted risks of stroke, MI, or death in time periods since RAO were compared with those of the Danish population. Furthermore, antithrombotic treatment of patients with RAO was determined by prescription claims, and the association with the risk of stroke, MI, or death was assessed using multivariate Poisson regression models and expressed as rate ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). RESULTS: After inclusion, 6628 individuals experienced a first-time RAO, of whom 391 had a stroke, 66 had a MI, and 402 died within the first year after RAO. RAO was associated with an increased risk of stroke, MI, or death which persisted for more than 1 year for all three outcomes but was highest on days 3 to 14 after RAO for stroke, with an adjusted RR of 50.71 (95% CI, 41.55–61.87), and on days 14 to 90 after RAO for MI and death, with adjusted RRs of 1.98 (95% CI, 1.25–3.15) and 1.64 (95% CI, 1.28–189), respectively. Overall, antithrombotic treatment was not associated with any protective effect the first year. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with RAO had an increased risk of stroke, MI, or death. No protective effect of antithrombotic treatment was shown. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: These findings are relevant to the management of patients with RAO

Hypertensive eye disease

Hypertensive eye disease includes a spectrum of pathological changes, the most well known being hypertensive retinopathy. Other commonly involved parts of the eye in hypertension include the choroid and optic nerve, sometimes referred to as hypertensive choroidopathy and hypertensive optic neuropathy. Together, hypertensive eye disease develops in response to acute and/or chronic elevation of blood pressure. Major advances in research over the past three decades have greatly enhanced our understanding of the epidemiology, systemic associations and clinical implications of hypertensive eye disease, particularly hypertensive retinopathy. Traditionally diagnosed via a clinical funduscopic examination, but increasingly documented on digital retinal fundus photographs, hypertensive retinopathy has long been considered a marker of systemic target organ damage (for example, kidney disease) elsewhere in the body. Epidemiological studies indicate that hypertensive retinopathy signs are commonly seen in the general adult population, are associated with subclinical measures of vascular disease and predict risk of incident clinical cardiovascular events. New technologies, including development of non-invasive optical coherence tomography angiography, artificial intelligence and mobile ocular imaging instruments, have allowed further assessment and understanding of the ocular manifestations of hypertension and increase the potential that ocular imaging could be used for hypertension management and cardiovascular risk stratification

Amaurosis fugax due to pleomorphic sarcoma

Purpose This report describes a case of amaurosis fugax due to a rare primary cardiac sarcoma. Observations A patient who was recently diagnosed with left atrial pleomorphic sarcoma presented with a chief complaint of multiple episodes of intermittent vision loss in the right eye during the course of radiation therapy. Conclusions and importance The authors postulate emboli from the left atrial sarcoma entered systemic circulation and subsequently caused brief episodes of transient occlusion to retinal, ophthalmic and/or ciliary arteries leading to momentary retinal hypoxia. We believe this is a novel finding, previously unreported in the literature, of transient embolic occlusion without permanent visual sequelae due to a malignant primary cardiac pleomorphic sarcoma

The use of embolic signal detection in multicenter trials to evaluate antiplatelet efficacy: signal analysis and quality control mechanisms in the CARESS (Clopidogrel and Aspirin for Reduction of Emboli in Symptomatic carotid Stenosis) trial

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> The CARESS (Clopidogrel and Aspirin for Reduction of Emboli in Symptomatic carotid Stenosis) trial proved the effectiveness of the combination of clopidogrel and aspirin compared with aspirin alone in reducing presence and number of microembolic signals (MES) in patients with recently symptomatic carotid stenosis. The present study aimed at installing primary and secondary quality control measures in CARESS because MES evaluation relies on subjective judgment by human experts.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> As primary quality control, centers participating in CARESS evaluated a reference digital audio tape (DAT) before the study containing both MES and artifacts. Interobserver agreement of classifying signals as MES was expressed as proportions of specific agreement of positive ratings (ps±values). For all DATs included in CARESS (n=300), online number of MES and off-line number of MES read by the central reader were compared using correlation coefficients. As secondary control, a sample of 16 of 300 DATs was cross-validated by another independent reader (post-trial validator).</p> <p><b>Results:</b> For the reference tape, the cumulative ps±value was 0.894 based on 12 of 14 observers. Two observers with very different results improved after a training procedure. Agreement between post-trial validator and central reader was ps+=0.805, indicating very good agreement. Correlation between online evaluation and off-line evaluation of DATs was very good overall (cumulative ρ=0.84; P<0.001).</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Multicenter studies using MES as outcome parameter are feasible. However, primary and secondary quality control procedures are important.</p&gt

Similarities and differences in systemic risk factors for retinal artery occlusion and stroke:A nationwide case-control study

BackgroundRetinal artery occlusion (RAO) has been considered a stroke equivalent. This study compares risk factor profiles for thromboembolism among patients with RAO and stroke, respectively.MethodsThis case-control study is based on 5683 RAO patients entered in the Danish National Patient Register between 1st of January 2000 and 31st of December 2018. Cases were matched on sex, year of birth, and age at event with 28,415 stroke patients. The Danish nationwide registries were used to collect information about age, sex, previous diagnoses, and drug prescriptions. Adjusted conditional logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between hypothesised risk factors and the patient outcome.ResultsFor atrial fibrillation, a substantially stronger association to stroke was found, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.52 (95% CI: 0.47-0.58) when comparing RAO patients with stroke patients. RAO was stronger associated with arterial hypertension, peripheral artery disease, retinal vein occlusion, cataract, and glaucoma with OR's ranging from 1.21-11.70. The identified effect measures reached equivalence or was close to equivalence for diabetes, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and renal disease.ConclusionThe differences in risk factor profiles between RAO and stroke suggests differences in the pathophysiology of the two diseases. These variations in pathophysiologies between the two diseases may indicate that different interventions are needed to ensure the optimal long-term prognosis for the patients

Managment of Transient Brain Ischemia

Cerebrovascular disease is an exciting subject, so complex that we could devote 30 minutes to a discussion of aspirin, dipyridamole, and sulfinpyrazone and their potential actions in the prevention of thromboembolic events. A Classification and Outline of Cerebrovascular Disease II, published in the September-October 1975 issue of Stroke, depicts this complexity. The portion labeled “outline” describes some of the things summarized in this paper