Background and Aims: Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is popular method for diagnosing small bowel lesions. However, there is the problem of impaired lumen Abstracts
Fungal infections of the heart are increasingly described especially in immunocompromised patients. Cardiac involvement can present with myocarditis, pericarditis or endocarditis. Cryptococcal endocarditis is extremely rare, with only four reported cases in the literature. The prognosis, natural history and the optimal management for cryptococcal endocarditis are not well described because of paucity of cases. We report the case of a patient with prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis due to C. neoformans. The diagnosis was confirmed with transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiogram, blood cultures that were positive for C. neoformans and high titers of cryptococcal antigen in the serum. The patient was successfully treated with liposomal amphotericin without surgical intervention.
Intermittent left bundle branch block (LBBB) has been reported in the literature following certain conditions such as cardiac blunt trauma, myocardial infarction (MI) or exercise induced LBBB. In the majority of cases, the patients usually have underlying coronary arteries disease. LBBB often prevents the electrocardiographic diagnosis of acute MI; therefore, new LBBB in the setting of chest pain is usually treated as transmural MI. We describe a case of patient who presented with intermittent LBBB associated with chest pain, and subsequently the patient was taken to the catheterization laboratory for emergency coronary angiogram, which revealed 80% spasm in left anterior descending artery, which was totally relieved by nitroglycerin infusion. No other significant CAD was noted.
Hepatic hydrothorax is defined as a pleural effusion in patients with liver cirrhosis without primary cardiac, pulmonary or pleural disease. It is a rare but important cause of unilateral-pleural effusion. The prevalence of this complication is 5-10% of the total number of patients with advanced stages of cirrhosis. In most cases (85%), the effusion is right-sided; however, in 13% of cases it can be left-sided and bilateral in 2% of the cases. We present a case of left-sided hepatic hydrothorax in the absence of ascites in a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis. The diagnosis of cirrhosis was confirmed by the biopsy;the patient didn't have any history or any signs or symptoms of cirrhosis prior to her presentation. In the case described, the patient was treated with spirnolactone, furosemide and ursodeoxycholic acid. At follow-up after six months since the diagnosis, she was responding to treatment with no complications. This case emphasizes the importance of considering hepatic hydrothorax as an etiology of a transudative pleural effusion regardless of the presence or absence of ascites inpatients with occult cirrhosis.
Blastomycosis is an endemic fungal infection in North America. It usually causes acute and occasionally chronic pneumonias with disseminated infection, particularly skin lesion, as an extrapulmonary manifestation. Many cases are asymptomatic; however, a few patients progress to develop severe pulmonary infection leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome, which carries a high mortality rate. Disseminated blastomycosis involving the heart is exceptionally rare and can be potentially life threatening. To our knowledge, there are only four reported cases of cardiac blastomycosis in the literature. Here, we report a case of cardiac blastomycosis who initially presented with respiratory failure. In our patient, it was practically impossible to establish a diagnosis of cardiac blastomycosis antemortem because of his previous cardiac history related to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, which confounded the cardiac findings. This case raises an important issue of clinically considering involvement of the heart in cases of disseminated blastomycosis. Perhaps if the patient did not have a prior cardiac history, a new onset heart failure may have suggested cardiac involvement.
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