Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) has a high fatality rate if not caught early and treated with plasmapheresis. When TTP patients present late in their sequelae with neuro symptoms, an elevated lactate dehydrogenase and systemic symptoms, there is a high mortality rate. This report describes the case of a young female who had no significant medical problems and presented to our hospital after several days of hematuria, new onset blurry vision and dizziness. She was found to have thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia consistent with TTP and was thus started on plasmapheresis. Her course was further complicated with seizures and development of bilateral basal ganglia infarcts which lead to the need for mechanical ventilation. This was followed by worsening renal functions which was managed with intermittent hemodialysis. To add to her multi-organ failure, she developed shock liver along with demand ischemia evidenced by significant elevations in liver enzymes and troponin leaks, respectively. However, on Day 4 it was fascinating to see the beginning of her recovery pathway. It began with response to simple commands followed by discontinuing invasive ventilation and gradual improvement in her renal functions evidenced by increasing urine output. Soon her platelets started rising consistently and she did not require plasmapheresis or hemodialysis by the time she was discharged. This case highlights the rapid recovery of a young female with new onset TTP which was complicated by involvement and severe damage of more than five different organs but was followed by complete recovery of each organ system.
Introduction: Patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) are usually treated on an outpatient basis, and symptoms can be controlled using various medical therapeutic options. We present a case of severe TN with an acute on chronic flare, which was now refractory to a wide variety of medical options, had a prolonged inpatient hospitalization, and ultimately required surgery with excellent results. Case: A 54-year-old Hispanic male was admitted with severe left-sided TN. His symptoms gradually became more pronounced and frequent to a point where he was unable to have a meaningful quality of life. A trial of gabapentin, phenytoin, opioids, and NSAIDs had also been unsuccessful before this hospitalization. He had three ER visits before he was finally hospitalized with intractable pain and unfortunately had begun to have suicidal thoughts. Various therapeutic interventions were tried, including escalating doses of opioids and local nerve blocks, but all non-surgical options failed to provide relief. Neurosurgical route was eventually approached, and patient underwent left retro mastoid suboccipital craniectomy. Intraoperatively, the left superior cerebellar artery was found to adhere to the inferior ventral aspect of the left trigeminal nerve root entry zone. Upon decompression patient's symptoms resolved dramatically. Interestingly this vascular compression was not seen on multiple prior brain imaging. Conclusion: TN can severely affect someone's quality of life. It often leads to severe anxiety and depression. Our case represents the importance of proceeding towards surgical options sooner rather than later. An early multi-disciplinary approach is warranted.
COVID 19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan City of China. Since then, it continues to spread globally and has been declared a pandemic. These patients present predominantly with respiratory complaints; however, in this article, we describe a case that was detected incidentally during workup of another suspecting diagnosis. We also elaborate on the benefits and importance of rapid testing.
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