SUMMARYA 87-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) with right-sided abdominal and thigh pain which had been present for the last 3 days and was getting worse. He had been diagnosed with a deep venous thrombosis of the left common femoral and superficial veins 10 days previously and had been discharged on a loading dose of warfarin and lowmolecular weight heparin (dalteparin) injections. Despite his international normalised ratio being only 2.4, an ED ultrasound showed an unusual mass in the right iliac fossa, partly cystic and partly solid. A CT scan was performed which showed the lesion was a haematoma in the right iliopsoas muscle mass.
BACKGROUND
Penetrative transorbital injuries put intracranial structures in peril. We present one such case where a low velocity transorbital injury resulted in traumatic temporal lobe injury, but with full recovery. Clinicians should be vigilant of intracranial complications of transorbital injuries.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) consists of a heterogeneous group of inherited connective tissue disorders, characterised by generalised joint hypermobility, hyperextensibility of the skin, dystrophic scars, and a tendency to excessive bleeding. Sequelae include recurrent low impact trauma dislocations, chronic joint pain, and early osteoarthritis. This report describes a case of multiple simultaneous dislocations at distant sites. We highlight the importance of paying consideration to the exposure of patients to large cumulative doses of ionising radiation to diagnose and confirm reduction of frequent dislocations, and ask whether radiographic confirmation is necessary on every occasion in this subset of patients.
Carotid artery dissection is a rare entity, and most cases are attributable to causative factors, which include trauma and local malignancy. The vast majority of dissections present with cerebral infarct; those few that present with local mass effect and respiratory compromise may deteriorate rapidly, requiring urgent resuscitation and consideration of endotracheal intubation, which is often dangerous and/or impossible. The case of a spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection in an otherwise healthy young man, leading to gross mass effect and eventual fatal airway obstruction, is presented here. The need for a high index of suspicion for cervical vascular injury in cases of neck injury (even trivial), known head and neck malignancy/irradiation, or coagulopathy is highlighted. Patients presenting with unilateral neck swelling and symptoms related to mass effect must be assumed to have progressive airway obstruction, and difficult intubation should be anticipated.
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