A Challenging Case of Refractory Biliary Leak in a Patient With Hydatid Liver Disease

Hydatid liver disease (HLD) is the most common form of hydatid disease, and it is caused by a zoonotic infection with a tape worm. It is endemic mostly in sheep-farming countries and rare in the United States. Liver involvement is usually asymptomatic, but symptoms develop upon growth of the cyst leading to many complications, most common of which is intra-biliary rupture, and less likely biliary obstruction. Diagnosis is clinical, serologic and radiologic. Therapeutic approaches to HLD include surgery, anthelminthic medications and medico-surgical procedures. Here we present a case of HLD that presented in advanced stage leading to grave consequences, complicated course and difficult therapeutic options. Given the rarity of hydatid disease in Northern America, physicians have to keep high index of suspicion especially in a patient with history of travel to endemic areas, as early diagnosis and treatment is important to avoid high morbidity and mortality

ASSESSMENT OF CARDIAC FUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA TREATED WITH IMATINIB AT THE NATIONAL CENTER OF HEMATOLOGY

Objective: The objective was to study the assessment of the possible cardiotoxic effect of imatinib using echocardiography.Methods: Prospective study included 50 patients that treated at the National Hematology Center of Al-Mustansiriya University from May 2008 to December 2009, echocardiography was used to measure the cardiac ejection fraction accurately, indices of ventricular ejection and relaxation and measurement of left ventricular internal diameter in diastole and (LVIDd) at baseline and after 12 months.Results: 24 (41%) were men and 26 (59%) were women. Their ages ranged from 18 to 74 years, with a median age of 36.8 years. At baseline, mean EF was 0.63±0.057 and after 12 months; mean EF was 0.64±0.068 (p>0.05). Mean peak emptying rate at baseline was 3.23±0.5 ED/s, and after 1 year was 3.21±0.5 ED/s (p>0.05). Time to peak filling rate at baseline was 144±26 ms, and after 1 year was 143±25 ms (p>0.05). There is a significant inverse trend for both LVIDd and LVID in systole (LVIDs) reduced as age increase; the female had significantly lower LVIDd and LVIDs compared to male.Conclusion: We find no evidence of significant impairment in cardiac function over 12 months of imatinib treatment. Advancing age associated with reduced cardiac performance for patients receiving imatinib

Administration of inhaled noble and other gases after cardiopulmonary resuscitation : A systematic review

Objective: Inhalation of noble and other gases after cardiac arrest (CA) might improve neurological and cardiac outcomes. This article discusses up-to-date information on this novel therapeutic intervention. Data sources: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, online published abstracts from conference proceedings, clinical trial registry clinicaltrials.gov, and reference lists of relevant papers were systematically searched from January 1960 till March 2019. Study selection: Preclinical and clinical studies, irrespective of their types or described outcomes, were included. Data extraction: Abstract screening, study selection, and data extraction were performed by two independent authors. Due to the paucity of human trials, risk of bias assessment was not performed DATA SYNTHESIS: After screening 281 interventional studies, we included an overall of 27. Only, xenon, helium, hydrogen, and nitric oxide have been or are being studied on humans. Xenon, nitric oxide, and hydrogen show both neuroprotective and cardiotonic features, while argon and hydrogen sulfide seem neuroprotective, but not cardiotonic. Most gases have elicited neurohistological protection in preclinical studies; however, only hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide appeared to preserve CA1 sector of hippocampus, the most vulnerable area in the brain for hypoxia. Conclusion: Inhalation of certain gases after CPR appears promising in mitigating neurological and cardiac damage and may become the next successful neuroprotective and cardiotonic interventions. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Prosthetic mitral valve Aspergillus fumigatus endocarditis

Aspergillus endocarditis is a fatal source of valvular infection with a near 100 % mortality rate if pharmacotherapy and valve-replacement surgery are not initiated swiftly after diagnosis. Complicating its diagnosis is the low yield for growth on standard blood culture and time requirements for molecular diagnostic tools to return a result. Aspergillus endocarditis of the mitral valve presents as valvular vegetations that reduce the caliber of the mitral valve and can cause syncope as in the case of mitral stenosis with subsequent valve failure, left atrial enlargement, and prospective cardiovascular failure. Reports of the management of Aspergillus endocarditis after serial mitral valve replacement are not prominent in the literature. We report the case of a 41-year-old female with previous mitral valve prosthesis who received a second prosthetic mitral valve after a syncopal episode. Vegetations resembling thrombi were noted on transesophageal echocardiogram, diagnosed as Aspergillus fumigatus endocarditis, and successfully treated with antifungal therapy in conjunction with removal of her dysfunctional prosthesis

Bilateral facial cutaneous angiomyolipomas: First case in the literature and a possible correlation with human immunodeficiency virus

Angiomyolipomas (AMLs) are benign tumors consisting of smooth muscle-like cells, adipocyte-like cells, and epithelioid cells. They are usually renal in origin, and extrarenal AMLs are rare. Cutaneous AMLs are even more rare. We present a case of 65 year old female, with no underlying genetic condition, who developed bilateral facial cutaneous AMLs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in the literature. In addition, we investigate and suggest a correlation between human immunodeficiency virus and AMLs

Unusual Longevity of Edwards Syndrome: A Case Report

Background: Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards syndrome, was first described in the 1960s and is now defined as the second most common trisomy. While this genetic disease has been attributed to nondisjunction during meiosis, the exact mechanism remains unknown. Trisomy 18 is associated with a significantly increased mortality rate of about 5–10% of patients surviving until 1 year of age. We present a case of a 26-year-old female diagnosed with trisomy 18, well outliving her life expectancy, maintaining a stable state of health. Case Presentation: A 26-year-old female with non-mosaic Edwards syndrome presented to the clinic for follow up after recent hospitalization for aspiration pneumonia. The definitive diagnosis of trisomy 18 was made prenatally utilizing chromosomal analysis and G-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on cells obtained via amniocentesis. Her past medical history is characterized by severe growth and intellectual limitations; recurrent history of infections, especially respiratory system infections; and a ventricular septal defect (VSD) that was never surgically repaired. She remains in good, stable health and is under close follow-up and monitoring. Conclusions: Despite the fact that Edwards syndrome carries a significantly high mortality rate due to several comorbidities, recent literature including this case report has identified patients surviving into adulthood. Advancements in early detection and parent education have likely allowed for these findings. We aim to present a case of an adult with trisomy 18, living in stable condition, with an importance on medical follow-up

Breaking Bad News, a Pertinent Yet Still an Overlooked Skill: An International Survey Study

Delivering bad news to patients is a challenging yet impactful everyday task in clinical practice. Ideally, healthcare practitioners should receive formal training in implementing these protocols, practice in simulation environments, and real-time supervision with feedback. We aimed to investigate whether healthcare providers involved in delivering bad news have indeed received formal training to do so. We conducted a cross-sectional survey study that targeted all healthcare providers in the intensive care units of 174 institutions in 40 different countries. Participants included physicians, nurses, medical students, nursing students, pharmacists, respiratory technicians, and others. The survey tool was created, validated, and translated to the primary languages of these countries to overcome language barriers. A total of 10,106 surveys were collected. Only one third of participants indicated that they had received a formal training. Providers who had received formal training were more likely to deliver bad news than those who had not. Younger and less experienced providers tend to deliver bad news more than older, more experienced providers. The percentage of medical students who claimed they deliver bad news was comparable to that of physicians. Medical schools and post-graduate training programs are strongly encouraged to tackle this gap in medical education

Eculizumab as a Treatment for Hyper-Haemolytic and Aplastic Crisis in Sickle Cell Disease

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease can experience various crises including sequestration crisis, haemolytic crisis and aplastic crisis. Due to alloantibody formation, transfusion alloantibodies can cause a haemolytic crisis. Treatment involves avoiding packed red blood cell transfusions, as well as intravenous immunoglobulin, steroids and eculizumab to decrease the chances of haemolysis.Case description: We report the case of a 42-year-old man who was found to have worsening anaemia after packed red blood cell transfusion with evidence suggestive of haemolytic crisis. Due to reticulocytopenia, aplastic crisis was also suspected and later confirmed via parvovirus IgG and IgM titres. The patient did not improve with steroid and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy and was treated with eculizumab as a salvage therapy.Conclusion: Concurrent hyper-haemolytic crisis and aplastic crisis should be suspected in patients with features of haemolysis and reticulocytopenia. Prompt recognition and treatment with eculizumab are paramount in those who fail steroid and intravenous immunoglobulin treatment

Effect of Insulin Pump Use on Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: A Matched Cohort Study

Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a well-known complication of diabetes mellitus with a significantly high mortality if not immediately and properly treated. Therefore, strategies for prevention of DKA are ever so important when managing diabetes mellitus, especially in the non-compliant patient population. Previously studies have suggested insulin pump use to carry an increased risk of DKA compared to insulin injections, while European studies suggest the opposite. We aimed to perform a retrospective cohort study to determine the risk of DKA in insulin pump versus injection in the United States. Methods: We utilized the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) 2017 database, which represents a 20% sample of all payer hospitalizations in the United States. These hospitalizations were systematically selected by the Agency for Healthcare Resources and Quality (AHRQ) and we included all type 1 diabetes mellitus patients over the age of 18 who were on insulin, either pump or injections, in our study. Results: We found a total of 58,260 admissions for patients with type 1 DM. Of these, 7850 had insulin pump, 30,672 used insulin injection, and 19,738 had no prior insulin use. We found that insulin pump use, compared to injections, failed to predict a lower incidence of DKA in hospitalized patients. Conclusion: Although several studies from European countries have found a reduction of DKA risk with insulin pump use, in this study we found no clear significant difference in a United States-based study. While this may be possible due to different legislating and regulation organizations, further studies are warranted to further evaluate the benefit of either insulin dispensing modality

Why Do Patients Leave against Medical Advice? Reasons, Consequences, Prevention, and Interventions

Background: A patient decides to leave the hospital against medical advice. Is this an erratic eccentric behavior of the patient, or a gap in the quality of care provided by the hospital? With a significant and increasing prevalence of up to 1–2% of all hospital admissions, leaving against medical advice affects both the patient and the healthcare provider. We hereby explore this persistent problem in the healthcare system. We searched Medline and PubMed within the last 10 years, using the keywords “discharge against medical advice,” “DAMA,” “leave against medical advice,” and “AMA.” We retrospectively reviewed 49 articles in our project. Ishikawa fishbone root cause analysis (RCA) was employed to explore reasons for leaving against medical advice (AMA). This report presents the results of the RCA and highlights the consequences of discharge against medical advice (DAMA). In addition, the article explores preventive strategies, as well as interventions to ameliorate leaving AMA