Severe fibrosing mediastinitis with atypical presentation: Effective control with novel therapeutic approach

Fibrosing mediastinitis (FM), also known as sclerosing mediastinitis, is an uncommon but serious disease involving the mediastinal structures. A high index of suspicion is essential to establish the diagnosis of FM and starting the appropriate therapy for patients. Here, we report a case of a young female who presented with chest symptoms and subsequently underwent different laboratory and radiologic investigations and an excisional biopsy. The findings of these investigations were consistent with the diagnosis of idiopathic FM. Her disease was associated with complete occlusion of three pulmonary veins and the left main pulmonary artery. The patient was treated with initial high-dose steroids followed by maintenance steroid and methotrexate therapy with very good long-term disease control. Clinical response, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were used to monitor disease activity and response to therapy

Baseline characteristics, management practices, and long-term outcomes among patients with first presentation acute myocardial infarction in the Second Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary Events (Gulf RACE-II)

Background and objectives: Limited data are available highlighting the different clinical aspects of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, especially in Gulf countries. In this study, we aimed to compare patients who presented with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as the first presentation of patients who have a history of ACS in terms of initial presentation, medical history, laboratory findings, and overall mortality. Methods: We used the Second Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary Events (Gulf RACE-II), which is a multinational observational study of 7930 ACS patients. Results: Among all patients, 4723 (59.6%) patients presented with AMI. First presentation AMI patients were older (mean age, 55 years vs. 53 years; p < 0.001) and had lower risk factors than patients with a history of ACS. Higher laboratory readings of cardiac markers and all aspects of mortality were significantly higher among patients with first presentation AMI. After adjustments for baseline variables, congestive heart failure [odds ratio (OR) = 1.08; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.73–1.57], reinfarction (OR = 1.16; 95% CI, 0.58–2.30), cardiogenic shock (OR = 1.51; 95% CI, 0.74–3.08), stroke (OR = 2.30; 95% CI, 0.29–17.99), and overall mortality (OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 0.74–1.83) were independent predictive factors for first presentation AMI. Conclusions: First presentation AMI patients tend to be older and to have lower rates of risk factors. Adverse clinical outcomes such as congestive heart failure, reinfarction, cardiogenic shock, and stroke were higher among patients with first presentation AMI compared to patients with a history of ACS. Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome, Acute myocardial infarction, Middle East, Mortalit

Quality of assessment and counselling offered by community pharmacists and medication sale without prescription to patients presenting with acute cardiac symptoms: a simulated client study

PURPOSE: Self-medication is common worldwide. However, the prevalence of sale of prescription medications without prescription and the quality of assessment and counselling provided by community pharmacists to cardiac patients is unknown. We sought to determine the prevalence of prescription medication sales and explore how pharmacists assess and counsel patients with acute cardiac conditions. METHODS: Six hundred community pharmacies in the two largest cities in Saudi Arabia were selected. Two simulated clients presented either an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) scenario or an acute heart failure (AHF) scenario to the pharmacists. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used to analyse and present the collected data. RESULTS: Of 600 pharmacies, 379 (63.2%) sold various prescription medications to simulated patients without prescription. Assessment and counselling provided by pharmacists were inadequate. Almost a quarter of pharmacists did not ask simulated patients any questions; 52% asked one or two questions; and only 24% asked three or more questions. Only 28 pharmacists (4.7%) inquired about drug allergies; 48.5% instructed simulated patients on the dosage and frequency of the sold medications; 21.6% provided instruction on treatment duration; and 19.4% gave instructions on dose, frequency, and duration of treatment. Compared to AHF, ACS simulated patients were more likely to be asked about other symptoms and comorbidities (59.7% vs. 48.7%, p = 0.007 and 46.3% vs. 37.3%, p = 0.005, respectively) and were more likely to be advised to go to hospital (70.3% vs. 56.3%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The sale of prescription medications by community pharmacists to simulated cardiac patients without prescription is very common; assessment and counselling qualities are suboptimal