No abstract

Patient: Male, 55Final Diagnosis: Type-A aortic dissectionSymptoms: Exertional dyspnea • orthopneaMedication: —Clinical Procedure: Emergent surgical repair with mesh implantSpecialty: CardiologyObjective:Unusual clinical courseBackground:Aortic dissection presents with acute chest or back pain and is associated with high mortality. We present a case of aortic dissection with an atypical presentation in a peritoneal dialysis patient, and the challenges met with peritoneal dialysis.Case Report:A 53-year-old African American male presented with progressively worsening exertional dyspnea and orthopnea for 3 days without any history of chest pain. His chest x-ray showed mild pulmonary edema. He was admitted with a diagnosis of heart failure. Bedside echocardiogram revealed severe aortic regurgitation and concern for possible aortic dissection. Computed tomography of chest with contrast showed Stanford type-A aortic dissection extending from the aortic valve to the level of the left subclavian artery. Emergent surgery was performed. Postoperatively, the patient was managed in surgical and trauma intensive care unit to keep the blood pressure in the desired range. Initially, he was started on continuous veno-venous hemodialysis and later on transitioned to intermittent hemodialysis. He was switched back to peritoneal dialysis after 6 weeks of surgery.Conclusions:Atypical presentation of a silent aortic dissection without chest pain in the setting of renal failure and other comorbidities emphasizes that dialysis patients are different from the general population. Sometimes the management needs to be modified from the conventional ways to achieve the high level of success.

The goal of this study was to determine the utility of hydrocortisone in septic shock and its effect on mortality. We performed a systematic search from inception until March 01, 2018, according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines comparing hydrocortisone to placebo in septic shock patients and selected studies according to our pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Four reviewers extracted data into the predefined tables in the Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corp., New Mexico, US) sheet. We used RevMan software to perform a meta-analysis and draw Forest plots. We used a random effects model to estimate risk ratios. A two-sided p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of five randomized control trials (RCTs) with 5,838 patients were included in our analysis. The primary outcome was mortality at 28 days. Secondary outcomes were intensive care unit (ICU) and in-hospital mortality, mortality at 90 days and one year, reversal of shock, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay, incidence of superinfections, and incidence of limb and/or cerebral ischemia. The 28-day mortality was significantly reduced with hydrocortisone, 808 vs. 880 with placebo, Risk Ratio (RR)=0.92, confidence interval (CI) =0.85-0.99, p=0.04, I 2 =0%. There was no difference in ICU mortality (RR=0.93, CI=0.81-1.08), in-hospital mortality (RR=0.95, CI=0.84-1.08), 90-day mortality (RR=0.93, CI=0.84-1.02, p=0.10), and one-year mortality (RR=0.97, CI=0.84-1.12). Superinfections were significantly common with hydrocortisone, RR=1.16, CI=1.05-1.28, p=0.003. In conclusion, the use of hydrocortisone showed a significant reduction in mortality at 28 days and a trend toward reduced ICU mortality. This mortality reduction was observed at the cost of significantly higher superinfections.

Patient: Female, 40Final Diagnosis: Combined central and nephrogenic diabetes insipidusSymptoms: Confusion • polyuriaMedication: —Clinical Procedure: —Specialty: NephrologyObjective:Rare diseaseBackground:Patients with malignancies often have electrolyte abnormalities. We present a case of a patient with central diabetes insipidus secondary to metastatic pituitary invasion complicated by hypercalcemic nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.Case Report:We present a case of 40-year-old female with a history of stage IV breast cancer with skeletal and leptomeningeal metastasis, who was admitted with polyuria, polydipsia, and recent onset of confusion. The patient was found to have profound hypernatremia and severe hypercalcemia with normal parathyroid and vitamin D serum levels. Urine studies showed low urine osmolality and high urine output, despite the higher serum osmolality. The patient received 5% dextrose for rehydration, 1 dose of intravenous (IV) pamidronate, 1 dose of IV desmopressin, and 4 days of subcutaneous calcitonin 200 international units Q12H. Initially, her urine output in the hospital was in the range of 350–400 milliliters/hour, which responded well to 1 dose of 1-desamino-8d-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP). In the subsequent days, her confusion resolved with normalization of serum sodium and calcium, but she died because of the extensive malignancy.Conclusions:Our case emphasizes the importance of identification of causes and complications of electrolyte abnormalities associated with metastatic cancers. These electrolyte abnormalities can be primary or paraneoplastic and should be actively pursued and treated in such cases.