Bilateral optic neuropathy related to severe anemia in a patient with alcoholic cirrhosis: A case report and review of the literature

Anemia appears frequently in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) but has never been linked to bilateral nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). A 65-year-old woman with a medical history of alcoholic cirrhosis was admitted for bilateral NAION. On admission, she was found to have a low arterial pressure and severe normocytic anemia (48 g/L). The anemia was related to chronic bleeding due to antral gastritis along with other factors associated with ALD. The applied treatment consisted of urgent transfusion followed by high doses of proton-pump inhibitors, iron and vitamin supplementation, and support in lifestyle measures. Her hemoglobin levels remained stable after 2 years but the patient still suffered from visual loss. This case highlights the link between anemia and bilateral NAION in ALD patients. The optic nerve head is prone to infarction in this context due to the vascularization characteristics of ALD. Hemoglobin levels should be monitored in ALD patients to avoid the severe complication of NAION

092: Prognosis value of QRS duration in patients with heart disease and syncope

BackgroundPatients with heart disease (HD) and syncope are at high risk of sudden death. Implantable defibrillator (ICD) is recommended in patients with unexplained syncope and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 30% or in patients with LVEF >30% and inducible ventricular tachycardia (VT).AimThe purpose of the study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of QRS duration measurement in patients with HD and syncope.Methods528 patients, 89 women and 439 men, mean age 65±12 years, were admitted for syncope. All of them had an HD, either ischemic HD (n=382) or left ventricular impairment of other origin (n=115). Holter monitoring, electrophysiological study and head-up tilt test were systematic. Filtered QRS duration was measured at signal-averaged ECG (Fidelity 2000 of Cardionics) (filter 40 Hz, noise level < 0.6 μV). The patients were followed from 3 months up to 18 years (mean 5 ±4 years).ResultsMean LVEF was 40±14%. Cardiac defibrillator was implanted in 73 patients. 30 patients died suddenly, 75 died from heart failure or were transplanted (n=9). Remaining patients are alive or died from non cardiac death (n= 8). The last group differed from group who died suddenly by an higher LVEF (42±14% vs 32±13) (p< 0.00001) and a shorter QRS duration (125±34 msec vs 144±31) (p< 0.026). They tended to be older (65±12 years vs 61±13) (p<0.09). The alive group differed also from group who died from heart failure by an higher LVEF (42±14% vs 33±13) (p< 0.001) and a shorter QRS duration (125±34 msec vs 141±31) (p< 0.0033). They tended to be younger (65±12 years vs 67±10) (p<0.08). Patients who died suddenly and those who died from heart failure had similar LVEF and QRS duration but patients who died suddenly are younger than patients who died from heart failure (p<0.01).ConclusionsLow LVEF is a classical risk of worse prognosis in patients with HD and syncope. A longer QRS duration is also a noninvasive and simple test of worse prognosis. A QRS duration more than 125 msec had a sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 64% to predict cardiac mortality

Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis versus bacteremia strains: Subtle genetic differences at stake

AbstractInfective endocarditis (IE)(1) is a severe condition complicating 10–25% of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. Although host-related IE risk factors have been identified, the involvement of bacterial features in IE complication is still unclear. We characterized strictly defined IE and bacteremia isolates and searched for discriminant features. S. aureus isolates causing community-acquired, definite native-valve IE (n=72) and bacteremia (n=54) were collected prospectively as part of a French multicenter cohort. Phenotypic traits previously reported or hypothesized to be involved in staphylococcal IE pathogenesis were tested. In parallel, the genotypic profiles of all isolates, obtained by microarray, were analyzed by discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC)(2). No significant difference was observed between IE and bacteremia strains, regarding either phenotypic or genotypic univariate analyses. However, the multivariate statistical tool DAPC, applied on microarray data, segregated IE and bacteremia isolates: IE isolates were correctly reassigned as such in 80.6% of the cases (C-statistic 0.83, P<0.001). The performance of this model was confirmed with an independent French collection IE and bacteremia isolates (78.8% reassignment, C-statistic 0.65, P<0.01). Finally, a simple linear discriminant function based on a subset of 8 genetic markers retained valuable performance both in study collection (86.1%, P<0.001) and in the independent validation collection (81.8%, P<0.01). We here show that community-acquired IE and bacteremia S. aureus isolates are genetically distinct based on subtle combinations of genetic markers. This finding provides the proof of concept that bacterial characteristics may contribute to the occurrence of IE in patients with S. aureus bacteremia

180 Is it a risk of stroke in Wolff Parkinson White syndrome?

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major cause of stroke. AF incidence is increased in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), represents about 10% of spontaneous arrhythmias and has several mechanisms as the degeneration of atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) into AF, the AF facilitation by the atrial insertion of accessory pathway (AP) or another origin. The purpose of study was to assess the incidence of stroke in patients (pts) who had a preexcitation syndrome.Population707 pts aged from 5 to 85 years (mean 34.5±17) were studied for a WPW: 93 pts had unexplained syncope; 247 pts were asymptomatic; 367 pts had spontaneous tachycardias; among these pts 52 had documented AF. Electrophysiological study (EPS) consisted of atrial pacing and programmed atrial stimulation in control state and if necessary after infusion of isoproterenol. Clinical and electrophysiological data were collected.ResultsStroke was noted in 5 pts (0.7%), 2 women, 3 men aged from 53 to 75 years. They had a normal carotid and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. One pt had ischemic heart disease and the remaining pts had no heart disease. Their age was significantly older than remaining population (62±9 years vs 34±17) (p<0.0002). Only one pt had spontaneous AF; 51 other pts with spontaneous AF had no stroke. One of 247 was asymptomatic; one pt of 93 had syncope and 2 pts of 315 had spontaneous AVRT. At EPS, one asymptomatic pt had AP with long refractory period and no inducible tachycardia. Two pts with spontaneous tachycardias had only inducible AVRT and the pt with spontaneous AF had inducible antidromic tachycardia and AF. The pt with syncope had only inducible AF. These electrophysiological data did not differ from the remaining population. Anticoagulants were maintained after AP ablation, although the disappearance of arrhythymias.ConclusionsThe risk of stroke in WPW syndrome is very low (0.7%). Only one clinical factor differs significantly from remaining population, the relatively old age (mean 62±9 years). All other clinical factors as sex, associated heart disease, spontaneous symptoms and all electrophysiological data did not differ from remaining population