Intubation and anemia

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a syndrome encompassing both clinical and radiological manifestations with white matter vasogenic edema predominantly of the posterior and parietal lobes of the brain. It may accompany several medical conditions including immunosuppressive/cytotoxic drugs. We present a case of cyclophosphamide-induced PRES in a patient treated for acute lupus flare with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis. A 23-year-old African American female presented with non-specific symptoms over a six-month period on a medical background of systemic lupus erythematosus and biopsy-proven focal lupus nephritis class III on hydroxychloroquine, prednisone, and mycophenolate mofetil for which she was non-compliant...

An 80-year-old male receiving dialysis three times per week presented to the emergency room with general malaise after missing four consecutive dialysis appointments. During his workup, he was noted to have a potassium of 9.1 mmol/L, hemoglobin of 4.1 g/dL, and an electrocardiogram showing a first-degree atrioventricular (AV) block, a right bundle branch block, peaked T waves, and a wide QRS complex. During emergent dialysis and resuscitation, the patient suffered respiratory failure and was intubated...

Multiple myeloma (MM) typically presents as lytic bony lesions, hypercalcemia, anemia, and renal failure. Only a few cases of hyperammonemic encephalopathy (HE) attributed to multiple myeloma have been reported. We report a case of a 68-year-old Hispanic female diagnosed with multiple myeloma and presented with altered mental status and elevated ammonia levels found to have HE. The pathology behind HE is associated with higher ammonia levels produced by myeloma cell lines in the absence of liver disease...

PURPOSE: Post-operative pulmonary failure is a major complication of nephrectomy that may lead to severe morbidity and mortality. Hence, we aimed to derive a nephrectomy-specific post-operative respiratory failure index. METHODS: Our cohort was derived from The American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database between 2005 and 2019. The outcome of interest was post-operative respiratory failure (PRF) defined as any incidence of unplanned intubation post-operatively or requiring mechanical ventilation post-operatively for a period > 48 h...

BACKGROUND: Severe community-acquired pneumonia is a common life-threatening infection with a high rate of unfavorable outcome. This study aimed to assess the outcomes and predictors of hospitalized severe community-acquired pneumonia patients at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital. METHODS: A prospective follow-up study was conducted at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital from May 1 to September 31, 2021. The data was collected by reviewing patients' charts and interviewing the patients themselves...

Introduction: Although resuscitation guidelines for injured patients favor blood products, crystalloid resuscitation remains a mainstay in prehospital care. Our understanding of contemporary prehospital crystalloid (PHC) practices and their relationship with clinical outcomes is limited. Methods: The Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios trial data set was used for this investigation. We sought to identify factors associated with PHC volume variation and hypothesized that higher PHC volume is associated with worse coagulopathy and a higher risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) but a lower risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)...

Methemoglobinemia is a rare, life-threatening condition that occurs when the body is exposed to oxidative stress. We present the case of a 72-year-old female with a past medical history of hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, and heart failure who was admitted to the emergency department with altered mental status and respiratory failure. After admission, we also identified an atrioventricular block 2:1, anemia, and skin discoloration. We performed endotracheal intubation and started mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure; however, the patient retained an oxygen "saturation gap" despite adequate ventilation...

It has been well documented that acrylamide (ACR) is a human carcinogen. One of the consequences of ACR exposure is central and peripheral nervous system damage, which may lead to hallucinations, drowsiness, and numbness in the hands, as well as legs. Betaine (BET) plays an active role in methylation reactions, including DNA methylation, the integrity of cell membranes, and memory development. It has been approved that BET protects the liver from oxidative stress-inducing substances, such as ethanol, and nonalcoholic fatty liver, brain, kidney, stomach, as well as ovaries, in rats...

OBJECTIVE: Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is a continuum of disorders characterized by the pathologically adherent placenta to the uterine myometrium. Delivery by cesarean hysterectomy at 34-36 weeks is recommended to mitigate the risks of maternal morbidity. Iatrogenic preterm delivery, has potential neonatal implications; late preterm infants are at risk for significant respiratory morbidity. Neonatal outcomes in PAS neonates are not well described in the literature, we aimed to investigate these outcomes...

RATIONALE: Most patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease are associated with complications such as renal hypertension, renal anemia, hyperkalemia, water-sodium retention, and disorders of acid-base balance after long-term renal replacement therapy, which can lead to increased cardiac burden, some degree of myocardial damage, and finally progress to arrhythmia and heart failure. These are the main reasons why patients with chronic kidney disease are prone to cardiovascular events after renal transplantation...

This report presents a case of a 60-year-old man who was diagnosed with ascending colon cancer with metastases of the lymph nodes and multiple liver metastases. Three days before the introduction of the first chemotherapy, he visited our hospital due to high fever. The blood test revealed an increase in the inflammatory response, hepatobiliary enzyme level, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, and renal function deterioration. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed a rapid progression of primary lesion and liver metastatic lesions...

A 44-year-old woman was transferred to the ED from an outside hospital because of hemoptysis and concern for left-sided pulmonary infiltrate with associated pleural effusion. The patient presented to this outside hospital multiple times over the past 3 months because of left-sided shoulder pain, diffuse myalgias, and supraventricular tachycardia. On her third visit, she was found to have a left-sided pleural effusion and underwent diagnostic and therapeutic thoracentesis; 1.5 L of fluid was removed...

Patients with known cirrhosis who present with anemia, thrombocytopenia, acute renal failure, and confusion are usually presenting with decompensated cirrhosis. We present a patient with known alcoholic cirrhosis presenting with the above abnormalities, initially thought to be decompensated cirrhosis but found to have acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with acute blast crisis. This case was presented as a poster at the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting held on October 22-27, 2021. A 59-year-old male with a history of compensated alcoholic cirrhosis presented with unresponsiveness...

A previously healthy, fully immunized 7-year-old girl presented with a 7-week history of daily fevers and a worsening cough with persistently elevated inflammatory markers. Before admission, she had an unrevealing outpatient workup by infectious disease, rheumatology, pulmonology, and otorhinolaryngology for her fever and other symptoms. Multiple courses of antibiotics had no effect, but brief courses of steroids seemed to modestly alleviate her symptoms. At an outside hospital, a computed tomography neck and chest scan revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy...

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a rare complication following heart transplantation and has been attributed to several etiologies including infections, immunosuppressive medications, and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders. We report a 23-year-old male presenting 22 years after heart transplantation with severe AIHA. Laboratory findings were notable for positive IgG autoantibody against RBCs and high titer Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viremia. Shortly after the first unit of irradiated RBC transfusion and high dose steroids, the patient developed acute dyspnea and hypoxia requiring intubation...

Lane-Hamilton syndrome (LHS) presents a medical emergency, with 14% mortality due to Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemosiderosis (IPH) in acute phase. Despite the clinical severity of this entity, there has been no published review in the international literature, resulting in lack of awareness and delayed diagnosis.A rigorous search of international databases yielded a total of 80 LHS cases from January 1971 to August 2020. We analyzed 44 children (8.56 ± 4.72 years, 21 boys) and 36 adults (33.61 ± 13...

The current study purposed to investigate the 3-indoleacetic acid (IAA) possible adverse impacts on hematological parameters, hepatorenal function, cardiac, and skeletal muscles as well as testes of rats and histopathological alterations of respective organs and to determine the extent of reversing any adverse impacts occurred in animals after IAA withdrawal. Rats were exposed orally to 500 mg/kg BW by gastric intubation once daily for 14 days, after which one-half was sacrificed and the remaining half left for a further 14 days without IAA exposure...

BACKGROUND Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of rare genetic conditions that can cause eruption of blisters on the skin and mucous membranes by the slightest mechanical stimulus. In these patients particular attention should be paid to potential complications, from monitoring of vital signs to anesthesia procedures in the perioperative period. CASE REPORT A 31-year-old man with EB underwent lower-leg amputation for squamous cell carcinoma. Multiple blisters and scars had appeared all over his face and body, and his extremities were contracted...

Postoperative pneumonia (POP) is prevalent in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery, associated with poor clinical outcomes, prolonged hospital stay and increased medical costs. This article aims to clarify the incidence, risk factors, and interventions for POP after cardiovascular surgery. A comprehensive literature search was performed to identify previous reports involving POP after cardiovascular surgery. Current situation, predictors and preventive measures on the development of POP were collected and summarized...

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare but life-threatening condition which occurs due to non-traumatic separation of the coronary artery wall. It is more common in women, with an unclear, non-atherosclerotic mechanism. We report a unique case of spontaneous coronary artery dissection presenting as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). A 54-year-old woman presented with fever and recurrent abscess. On presentation, she was tachycardic, tachypneic and hypoxic, requiring nasal cannula. Physical exam was notable for healing a wound on the right lower back, status post incision and drainage, with no erythema, edema, ecchymosis or purulent drainage...