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The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a serious global threat causing a large number of fatalities and
putting enormous strain on the health care resources across the world. This has resulted in preferentially triaging the
coronavirus infected patients and placing others, especially cardiovascular patients at increased risk for adverse
complications. The effective management of cardiac patients in the hospital environment during this COVID-19 pandemic
has emerged as a real challenge. We try to address this issue and also highlight the interplay between COVID-19 and
cardiovascular diseases. We hereby review the available literature and emerging guidelines about cardiovascular
implications related to COVID-19 which will have a bearing on the patient care, health care professionals and cardiac
centres.
Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) though usually behaves in an indolent manner, can have unusual metastatic presentation. Initial presentation of metastatic disease has been reported in 1–12% of DTC being less frequent in papillary (~2%) than in follicular (~10%) thyroid carcinoma. Renal metastasis from DTC is very rare. To our knowledge, only about 30 cases have been reported in the English literature to date. To make clinicians aware that management of such high-risk thyroid cancer frequently requires novel multimodality imaging and therapeutic techniques. A 72-year-old female is described who presented with abdominal pain and bilateral lower limbs swelling. Initial contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan of abdomen showed a well-encapsulated mass in the upper pole of right kidney favoring a renal cell carcinoma. Postright sided radical nephrectomy, histopathology, and immunohistochemistry reports suggested metastatic deposits from thyroid malignancy. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-CT demonstrated hypermetabolic nodule in the left lobe of thyroid and a lytic lesion involving left acetabulum suggestive of skeletal metastasis. Subsequently, ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid nodules in bilateral lobes confirmed thyroid malignancy (Bethesda 6/6). Total thyroidectomy revealed papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) (follicular variant-PTC [FV-PTC]). After surgery, 131I-whole body scan showed iodine avid lytic lesion in the left acetabulum. The present case is a rare scenario of a renal metastasis as the presenting feature of an FV-PTC. Dual avidity in metastatic thyroid cancers (iodine and FDG) is rare and based on the degree of dedifferentiation of the DTC.
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has rampaged across the globe, creating a major public health emergency and economic crisis. In this pandemic, digital technology tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), big-data analytics, block chain technology, robotics and drone technology are playing a vital role and are increasingly being utilised by many countries for devising major public health strategies. This article discusses the utility of digital technology in combating coronavirus infection and also highlights the current limitations and future prospects of these tools.
Brugada phenocopies (BrP) are clinical entities that are etiologically distinct from true congenital Brugada syndrome. BrP are characterized by type 1 or 2 Brugada electrocardiogram (ECG) patterns in precordial leads V1-V3. However, BrP is elicited by various underlying clinical conditions such as myocardial ischemia, pulmonary embolism, electrolyte abnormalities, or poor ECG filters. Upon resolution of the inciting underlying pathological condition, the BrP ECG subsequently normalizes. Takotsubo (octopus fishing pot) cardiomyopathy (TCM) also known as stress cardiomyopathy is an acute cardiac condition characterized by transient systolic dysfunction of the left ventricular apex and mid-ventricle with depressed LV function mimicking acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and recovers within a few weeks. TCM is most commonly seen in postmenopausal women with intense physical and or emotional stress. We are reporting a rare case of BrP in a patient with TCM masquerading as ACS posing a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.
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