Sibutramine, which acts as an anti-obesity drug by inhibiting reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, has now been banned due to cardiovascular adverse effects. However, despite being banned, it is not uncommon for people to purchase products with sibutramine or its analogues used as adulterants in non-prescription slimming products or health foods available on the internet. Sibutramine has been associated with rare but serious adverse reactions such as cardiac arrhythmia including QT interval prolongation, myocardial infarction, and cardiomyopathy, as well as increases in blood pressure and pulse rate. Here, we report a case of a 32-year-old male who presented with dilated cardiomyopathy with massive left ventricular thrombus after taking unauthorized sibutramine-containing slimming pills sold over the internet.
Although clinically significant bioprosthetic valve thrombosis is rare, it should be considered a possible cause of valve dysfunction when there is an increasing transvalvular pressure gradient after anticoagulation is terminated. We describe a rare case of bioprosthetic mitral thrombosis in a 77-year-old woman 2 years after valve replacement and a maze procedure.
Extensive papillary muscle calcification is uncommon and only scarce literature about causes and the clinical significance is available, whereas small calcific deposits are common findings in elderly people and are located most commonly at the apex. Papillary muscle calcification has been associated with coronary artery disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, mitral valve disease, hypercalcemia, and increased calcium phosphate product in end stage renal disease. We reported a rare case of extensive calcification of anterolateral papillary muscle diagnosed by echocardiography and multidetector computed tomography.
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