The classification of asthma to identify forms which have different contributing causes is useful for all cases in which the disease requires regular treatment, but it is essential for the management of severe asthma. Many forms of the disease can occur, and complex mixtures are not uncommon; here we artificially ...

Introduction. Severe persistent asthma is a disabling condition associated with significant morbidity and rising mortality worldwide. The recent advent of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) has offered a revolutionary therapeutic option for the treatment of severe persistent asthma. This minimally invasive bronchoscopic procedure focuses on anatomical manipulation of bronchial smooth muscle to ...

Refractory angina pectoris is defined as angina refractory to optimal medical treatment and standard coronary revascularization procedures. Despite recent therapeutic advances, patients with refractory angina pectoris are not adequately treated. Spinal cord stimulation is a minimally invasive and reversible technique which utilizes electrical neuromodulation by means of an electrode implanted ...

Abstract Identifying chronic obstructive disease (COPD) cases is required to estimate COPD prevalence, to enroll COPD cohorts and to estimate air pollution health effects. Administrative health data are frequently used to identify COPD cases, though their validity has not been satisfactorily assessed. This paper aims to assess the contribution of ...

RATIONALE: Increased thickness of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) layer in asthma may result from hyperplasia or hypertrophy of muscle cells or increased extracellular matrix (ECM). OBJECTIVES: To relate ASM hypertrophy, ASM hyperplasia and deposition of ECM to the severity and duration of asthma. METHODS: Airways from control subjects (n=51) ...

Occupational asthma has been reported to be the most common chronic respiratory occupational disease in many developed countries, and as with other occupational lung diseases, occupational asthma is potentially preventable. We report the case of a 24-year-old baker who experienced pneumomediastinum as a consequence of workplace exposure. This is the ...

We report herein the rare case of a patient with dendriform pulmonary ossification (DPO) who developed spontaneous pneumothorax. A 33-year-old male with a history of bronchial asthma presented with pneumothorax of the left lung. An intraoperative inspection revealed no findings of bullae in the entire left lung, but inflammatory pleural ...

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Tracheobronchial amyloidosis is an uncommon localized form of amyloidosis that can simulate a tracheal tumor. Clinical signs are not specific and the diagnosis is rarely given before performing a bronchoscopy with multiples biopsies. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 60-year-old Moroccan woman, complaining of dyspnea and ...

A 27-year-old man was diagnosed with infective endocarditis due to Streptococcus agalactiae. Large vegetations were seen on the anterior mitral valve leaflet and also on the right ventricular side of a membranous ventricular septal defect. Streptococcus agalactiae is a rare cause of endocarditis, and it is very rare to find ...

Background: The smoking cessation medicine varenicline has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular adverse events compared with placebo in clinical trials. Cases of cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction (MI) and cardiac dysrhythmias, have been noted from spontaneous reporting systems. Objective: The aim of this study was to summarize ...

Congenital nail fold hypertrophy of the hallux is an uncommon abnormality affecting the periungual soft tissue of the great toe. It is usually identified at birth or shortly thereafter, and is known to spontaneously resolve in most cases. In this report, we describe the case of a 14-month-old boy presenting ...

Background. Extramedullary hematopoiesis is most often seen in reticuloendothelial organs specially spleen, liver, or lymph nodes, and it is rarely seen in lung parenchyma. Almost all reported cases of pulmonary extramedullary hematopoiesis occurred following myeloproliferative disorders specially myelofibrosis. Other less common underlying causes are thalassemia syndromes and other hemoglobinopathies. There ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Cardiac tuberculosis is rare and usually manifests as tuberculous pericarditis. Involvement of other part of the heart is unusual and descriptions in the pediatric literature are confined to few case reports regarding mainly myocardial tuberculosis. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe a case of pulmonary miliary tuberculosis associated with intracardiac ...

Unusual complications of peritoneal shunts are a well-known occurrence. The authors report a rare case of intra-cardiac migration of a distal shunt catheter, which occurred during the initial post-operative days. The physiopathology of this complication and its management are reported.

ABSTRACT: Hemoglobin (Hb) S and Hb E are the most common variant hemoglobins, but because of the geographical separation of the areas where they are prevalent, the combination of the 2 is uncommon. Approximately 46 cases of hemoglobin SE compound heterozygosity have been reported. No deaths from the condition have ...

Myxoedema coma is the most lethal manifestation of hypothyroidism. It represents a true medical emergency, especially in the case of cardiovascular instability. Extracorporeal circulation is usually used for rewarming and for providing cardiac support in patients with severe hypothermia and, in addition, cardiovascular instability. We report the case of an ...

We present a unique and medically complex case of improved voice after lingual thyroidectomy. A 10-year-old boy with multifactorial dysphonia presented with bilateral vocal fold lesions and sulci in the context of hypothyroidism as a result of a congenital lingual thyroid gland. Despite hormone replacement, medical treatment for asthma, allergy, ...

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a known complication of pericardial effusions. Most cases of pericardial effusions are idiopathic, infectious, and neoplastic, but can also occur after cardiac procedures. OBJECTIVE: To report the case of a patient who developed dysphagia from a sub-acute pericardial effusion caused by the placement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). ...

Cardiac dysrhythmias are a common problem in the United States. Radiofrequency ablation is being used more frequently as a treatment for these diagnoses. Although rare, serious complications such as cardiac tamponade have been reported as a result of ablation procedures. Traditionally, emergency department (ED) thoracotomy has been reserved for cases ...

We report the case of an incidental cardiac myxoma that was remarkable for the presence of extensive oncocytic change, a feature that has not be reported previously. The oncocytes most likely represent part of a spectrum of degenerative changes present in the tumor, but the possibility that they are neoplastic ...

Primary cardiac tumours are rarely found and have an incidence of 0.3% in all open-heart surgeries. Among those, approximately 70% are myxomas, most of them in the left atrium. The reported incidence of cardiac tumours in autopsy series is 0.001-0.28%. Right atrial myxomas are uncommon, but when present they often ...

Asymmetrical form of conjoined twinning (heteropagus) is an extremely rare event with an incidence of 1-2 million live births. The incomplete component of heteropagus, namely, parasite, usually consists of rudimentary organs. Therefore, the autosite component of heteropagus can be separated successfully. A wide spectrum of associated congenital cardiac malformations, which ...

BACKGROUND: Mad honey intoxication occurs after ingestion of honey containing grayanotoxin. CASE REPORT: We report the case of a 36-year-old man who ingested mad honey and developed atrial fibrillation. DISCUSSION: Mad honey intoxication is often characterized by symptoms such as hypotension, bradycardia, and syncope. Patients may also experience gastrointestinal, neurologic, ...

We present a case of a rare complication of atrial septal defect (ASD) device closure causing cor triatriatum dextro iatrogenica. A 29-year-old female presented with sudden onset dysarthria and ataxia and was found to have basilar and thalamic infarcts. Further evaluation using transthoracic echocardiography revealed an ASD which was repaired ...

Several case-control studies have been conducted that examine the association between autonomic variables and persistent pain conditions; however, there is a surprising dearth of published studies in this area that have focused on temporomandibular disorders (TMD). The current study presents autonomic findings from the baseline case-control study of the OPPERA ...

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are the main class of doping agents and their consumption produces adverse effects involving several organs and systems. Three cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and one of death due to congestive heart failure of previously healthy athletes who were AAS users are herein reported. Concentric ...

PURPOSE: Intrapulmonary or intracardiac thrombosis is a rare but catastrophic event following complex cardiothoracic surgery. Although there have been multiple cases reported in the literature, the causes of these events are largely unknown. In this retrospective review, we attempt to identify risk factors and propose possible mechanisms of thromboses after ...

Cardiac lipomas are extremely rare neoplasms. We report the case of a 72-year-old woman with an incidental finding of a cardiac mass.

OPINION STATEMENT: Prompt recognition of the signs and symptoms of pericardial disease is critical so that appropriate treatments can be initiated. Acute pericarditis has a classical presentation, including symptoms, physical examination findings, and electrocardiography abnormalities. Early recognition of acute pericarditis will avoid unnecessary invasive testing and prompt therapies that provide ...

One type of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited disorder resulting in fatty replacement of the right ventricular wall and consequent fatal arrhythmias. It is a major cause of sudden death in young people. Mutations in the genes encoding desmosomal proteins have been identified as a cause of ...

Background. Cardiac arrest due to lamotrigine (LTG) has been reported after co-ingestion with bupropion, but severe sodium channel blockade in the absence of other toxins has not been described. We report a case of cardiac arrest and status epilepticus following a massive LTG overdose. Case Report. A 48 year-old female ...

Preliminary data suggest that right heart failure (RHF) may be more common in urban Africans than first suspected. We examined the characteristics and pathways to RHF in the Heart of Soweto cohort. A clinical registry captured data from 5328 de novo presentations of heart disease to the Cardiology Unit, Chris ...

An omphalocoele is a congenital defect that affects the development of the abdominal wall in the umbilical region, resulting in a hernial-type sac of variable size. The condition is usually diagnosed prenatally and corrected in early infancy to prevent rupture of the covering membranes, which carries a high mortality and ...

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are standard medication in treating hypertension, heart failure and diabetic nephropathy. The most common side effects are cough and angioneurotic oedema of the upper airways. A less familiar side effect is the ACE inhibition-induced visceral angioedema. We report the case of a young female patient with ...

We present a case of a 55-year-old woman with episodes of recurrent pulmonary edema that was diagnosed to have a large left atrial myxoma using bedside transthoracic echocardiography. This case illustrates the importance of a screening focused ultrasound examination of involved systems by emergency physicians in detecting causes for emergency ...

Microfibrillar cardiomyopathy is a very rare cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). The index case was a male patient who presented with shortness of breath and pedal edema. Further clinical investigations favored a clinical diagnosis of RCM. An endomyocardial biopsy revealed subendocardial and interstitial hyaline eosinophillic material resembling amyloid that did ...

An unusual type of food poisoning, mad honey poisoning, is a well-known phenomenon in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Mad honey poisoning can result in severe cardiac complications including sinus bradycardia, nodal rhythm, various degrees of atrioventricular blocks, and even asystole. However, no cases of long QT interval have ...

In medical schools worldwide, the traditional clinical approach is based on the law of parsimony. Physicians in daily clinical practice attempt to fulfill this very simplified yet complex concept of unifying the diagnosis in a given clinical scenario. However, failures are not uncommon. This report presents a case of tetralogy ...

Anesthetic-associated death (AAD) in cats is infrequent, but occurs far more frequently than in people. Post-mortem investigations of AAD in cats are uncommon, and results only sporadically published. Here we report the findings in 54 cases of AAD in cats. Significant gross and/or microscopic pre-existing disease, including pulmonary, cardiac, and ...

: To describe the epidemiologic profile of congenital syphilis in Mexico between 1990 and 2009. : The database of the General Direction of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health in Mexico about congenital syphilis was reviewed. Data corresponding to the period between 1990 and 2009 were analyzed in every state ...

Primary cardiac tumors are infrequent, with an incidence between 0.001% and 0.2%, mostly comprising benign histological characteristics in 75% of these cases. Myxomas account for approximately 50% of these neoplasms. As regards location, 75-80% of myxomas are in the left atrium, 18% in the right atrium, and more rarely in ...

Blunt traumatic cardiac rupture is a relatively uncommon diagnosis and is usually associated with a high mortality rate. A case of delayed cardiac rupture is described in an elderly person who sustained blunt chest trauma following a fall into a roadside ditch. In the case reported herein, the preliminary investigations ...

Abstract  Tricuspid dysfunction induced by pacemaker-lead perforation is rare. We now report a case of a patient with progressive right-sided heart failure due to severe tricuspid regurgitation due to perforation from a previously placed pacemaker lead. (J Card Surg 2011;**:1-2).

BACKGROUND: Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is an important cause of fulminant or acute viral myocarditis in immunocompromised or immunocompetent patients. However the physiopathological mechanisms of HHV-6 related acute myocarditis and the involvement of subsequent HHV-6 reactivation phases in the development of chronic cardiomyopathies remain to be assessed. OBJECTIVES: To describe ...

Background- Although such data are available for young competitive athletes, the prevalence, characteristics, and outcome of sports-related sudden death have not been assessed previously in the general population. Methods and Results- A prospective and comprehensive national survey was performed throughout France from 2005 to 2010, involving subjects 10 to 75 ...

The most frequent presentation of cardiac amyloidosis is with endomyocardial deposition, and resultant restrictive cardiomyopathy. We present a case of primary systemic amyloidosis causing constrictive pericarditis (CP) and congestive heart failure without clinical evidence of endomyocardial deposition. A comprehensive evaluation by noninvasive and invasive studies facilitated the differentiation of CP ...

BACKGROUND: Foreign body type granulomatous vasculitis has been reported in blood vessels of the brain, lungs, and skin of the foot following intravascular instrumentation with devices coated with hydrophilic polymer gel. We report a case of intramyocardial polymer gel emboli associated with granulomatous vasculitis following cardiac catheterization. METHOD: Autopsy observations ...

Prominent ventricular trabeculations are seen in a fetal heart. Isolated ventricular non-compaction (IVNC) is a rare form of primary cardiomyopathy. It usually presents with heart failure, arrhythmias and very rarely with thrombo-embolic manifestation. The left ventricle is involved in the majority of the cases. Echocardiography is the principal modality for ...

OBJECTIVES: The authors analyzed surgical cases in which electrocardiographic (ECG) signs of cardiac ischemia were noted to be precipitated by increases in heart rate (ie, heart rate-related ECG changes [REC]). The authors aimed to find REC incidence, specificity for coronary artery disease (CAD), and the outcome associated with different management ...

Aiming to increase mixing at the atrial level, atrial septal stenting was performed in two pediatric cases with cyanotic congenital cardiac diseases. The first case was a 3-month-old male infant with transposition of the great arteries. The second case was an 18-month-old male infant with increased central venous pressure due ...