Anticholinergic Toxicity Associated with Lupine Seeds Ingestion—A Case Report

Lupine, a member of the legume family, is also known as lupines in the USA and as Turmus in the Middle East. Lupine seeds are consumed as an appetizer and in herbal therapy for diabetes mellitus in the Middle East. Quinolizidine alkaloids are found in various plants belonging to the Lupinus genus although the nature and level of these alkaloids are highly variable between species; these compounds are known to cause anticholinergic symptoms. We present a case for a 40-year old woman who presented with blurry vision, nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, disorientation, and severe mouth dryness for one hour prior to presentation.  She ate partially debittered lupine seeds about an hour prior to her complaints. On physical exam, she was found to have sinus tachycardia, bilateral fixed dilated pupils and facial flushing. Lab tests and brain imaging were unremarkable, and the lupine seeds ingestion was presumed to be the cause of her complaints. She was admitted for observation for 24 hours and her symptoms resolved spontaneously

A Challenging Case of Adrenal Insufficiency Presenting with Hypertensive Crisis

Adrenal insufficiency is the deficient production or action of glucocorticoids, with or without deficiency in mineralocorticoids or adrenal androgens. It usually presents with anorexia, abdominal pain, weakness, weight loss, fatigue, and hypotension. We report a case of 67 year old male, who is known to have hypertension, presented to emergency room with severe headache and was found to have high blood pressure 241/135mmHg and hypoosmolar hyponatremia. He was started on intravenous nicardipine and his blood pressure dropped suddenly, became orthostatic, and required fluid resuscitation but his headache resolved. On next day, the cosyntropin test was suggestive of primary adrenal insufficiency. The patient was started on oral hydrocortisone with improvement in his blood pressure and hyponatremia

An Unusual Association between Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and Diffuse B Cell Lymphoma

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1) is known to be associated with increased risk of malignancy by at least fourfold. Malignant lymphomas are rare in adults with NF-1. Hereby, we present a 75-year-old male with NF-1 complaining of weakness, nausea, and vomiting associated with abdominal pain. Three months prior to presentation, he had suffered a motor vehicle accident (MVA) resulting in multiple rib fractures that was seen in chest X-ray. For the following three months, he had intermittent chest pain, but it was attributed to the recent rib fracture. During this admission, the severity of chest pain worsened and the associated vomiting inclined further investigation; including CT imaging and bone biopsy, it was revealed to be a rare case of diffuse B cell lymphoma in a patient with NF-1. However, we believe the recent MVA caused an anchoring bias in making a prompt diagnosis. In addition, the appearance of the neurofibroma, resulted in suboptimal physical examination, and hence, there was a delay in reaching the diagnosis. We will discuss here the presentation of this case, to highlight the rare association and to increase awareness of when encountering a challenging diagnosis

Usefulness of non-gated chest computed tomography scans in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) is frequently utilized to evaluate patients who present to the emergency department with chest pain for a pulmonary or aortic disease but is not routinely used to evaluate for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Decreased myocardial enhancement in non-electrocardiogram-gated contrast-enhanced CT has been proposed to indicate AMI. These two cases highlight the importance of carefully evaluating the myocardium for perfusion defects on non-gated chest CT scans in patients suspected of having AMI

Independent Risk Factors for Thromboembolic Events in High-Risk Patients With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is characteristically associated with left ventricular apical ballooning and regional wall motion abnormalities that predispose to the formation of left ventricular (LV) thrombi and subsequent thromboembolic events (VTE). There is limited data about the risk factors of developing stroke in the absence of LV thrombi in patients with TCM. Identify risk factors that predispose patients with TCM to develop VTE and stroke. We retrospectively reviewed all patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of stress induced or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy at a large tertiary care center from 2005 to 2019. Patients who met the echocardiographic criteria of TCM, had resolution of WMA on repeat echocardiogram, did not have coronary artery disease if angiography was performed and survived for \u3e 3 months after index presentation were included in the analysis. Patients were followed for up to a period of 1 year. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of thromboembolism. Among the 400 patients who presented with TCM, 146 patients were included in the analysis. A total of 13 patients (8.9%) had documented thromboembolic events. Patients with VTE more often had Atrial fibrillation (30.8% vs 6.8%, P = 0.018), higher LV mass (224.5g vs 184g, P = 0.04), lower EF on presentation (31.5% vs 40%, P = 0.011) and were less likely to have undergone coronary angiography following diagnosis (23.1% vs 54.9%, P = 0.04). On multivariate analysis, atrial fibrillation (OR 9.15, CI 1.15-72.70) and low ejection fraction on admission (OR 0.88, CI 0.81-0.97) were independent risk factors for the development of VTE. Atrial fibrillation and low ejection fraction on presentation were associated with higher risk of developing thromboembolic events in patients with TCM

Impact of Adjuvant Use of Midodrine to Intravenous Vasopressors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of midodrine use in intensive care units (ICU) to facilitate weaning off intravenous vasopressors (IVV). Methods. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar (inception through October 18th, 2020) for studies evaluating adjuvant use of midodrine to IVV in the ICU. The outcomes of interest were ICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, mortality, IVV reinstitution, ICU readmission, and bradycardia. Estimates were pooled using the random-effects model. We reported effect sizes as standardized mean difference (SMD) for continuous outcomes and risk ratios (RRs) for other outcomes with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Results. A total of 6 studies were found that met inclusion criteria and had sufficient data for our quantitative analysis (1 randomized controlled trial and 5 retrospective studies). A total of 2,857 patients were included: 600 in the midodrine group and 2,257 patients in the control group. Midodrine use was not associated with a significant difference in ICU LOS (SMD 0.16 days; 95% CI −0.23 to 0.55), hospital LOS (SMD 0.03 days; 95% CI −0.33 to 0.0.39), mortality (RR 0.87; 95% CI 0.52 to 1.46), IVV reinstitution (RR 0.47; 95% CI 0.17 to 1.3), or ICU readmission (RR 1.03; 95% CI 0.71 to 1.49) when compared to using only IVV. However, there were higher trends of bradycardia with midodrine use that did not reach significance (RR 7.64; 95% CI 0.23 to 256.42). Conclusion. This meta-analysis suggests that midodrine was not associated with a significant decrease in ICU LOS, hospital LOS, mortality, or ICU readmissions

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Peripheral Vascular Disease Admissions Using a Nationally Representative Sample.

Our study aimed to identify clinical outcomes and resource utilization associated with race and ethnicity in patients admitted with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) across the United States. We queried the National Inpatient Sample database from 2015 to 2019 and identified 622,820 patients admitted with PVD. Patients across 3 major race and ethnic categories were compared in terms of baseline characteristics, inpatient outcomes, and resource utilization. Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to be younger and of the lowest median income but incur higher total hospital costs. Black race predicted higher rates of acute kidney injury, need for blood transfusion, and need for vasopressor but lower rates of circulatory shock, and mortality. Black and Hispanic patients were less likely to undergo limb-salvaging procedures and more likely to undergo amputation than White patients. In conclusion, our findings indicate that Black and Hispanic patients experience health disparities in resource utilization and inpatient outcomes for PVD admissions