Angiosarcoma is an aggressive mesenchymal sarcoma of endothelial cell origin with high mortality. Its occurrence in the small intestine is exceedingly low. In addition to the rarity of small intestine angiosarcoma, the nonspecific early clinical symptoms obscure the suspicion of such tumors and thereby delay the diagnosis. In a hope to improve the knowledge of this rare but fatal neoplasm, we report one case of angiosarcoma of duodenum and jejunum in a 73-year-old man. Furthermore, we summarize and analyze the common clinical features, tumor markers, treatment, and survival of previous reported cases of this malignancy. Small bowel angiosarcoma occurs more often in men than women (1.6:1). The median age at diagnosis is 68.5 years. The overall median survival time is 150 days; the median survival time in female (300 days) is longer than that of male patients (120 days). Von Willebrand factor (vWF), CD31, CD34, vimentin, and Ulex europaeus agglutinin 1 appear to be the most useful markers for the diagnosis. The majority of the patients underwent surgical resection alone or surgery with subsequent chemotherapy. The patients treated with surgery plus chemotherapy survive longer than those underwent surgical resection only (median 420 days, n = 7 vs. 96.5 days, n = 26, respectively; P = 0.0275). Further studies of more cases are needed for a better understanding of this rare entity, as well as the development of effective strategies for prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment.

Ludwig’s angina is a diffuse cellulitis in the submandibular, sublingual, and submental spaces, characterized by its propensity to spread rapidly to the surrounding tissues. Early recognition and treatment for Ludwig’s angina are of paramount importance due to the myriad of complications that can occur in association with Ludwig’s angina. Known complications of Ludwig’s angina include carotid arterial rupture or sheath abscess, thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein, mediastinitis, empyema, pericardial effusion, osteomyelitis of the mandible, subphrenic abscess, aspiration pneumonia, and pleural effusion. By reporting a case of Ludwig’s angina, we hope to raise the awareness in our medical community for this rare clinical entity.This case describes a 54-year-old woman with Ludwig’s angina that evolved from a chronic odontogenic infection. She presented with perioral swelling with the involvement of bilateral submandibular and sublingual areas, accompanied by excruciating pain, chills, fever, and vomiting. She was treated with clindamycin and cefoxitin for infection and vigorously hydrated.This case is exemplary for the successful management of this potentially lethal clinical condition. Our early recognition and aggressive treatment helped to prevent complications from Ludwig’s angina.

Thyroid storm is a potentially fatal manifestation of thyrotoxicosis. Cardiopulmonary failure is the most common cause of death in thyroid storm. Clinicians should keep in mind that thyroid storm complicated with cardiopulmonary failure can be the first presentation of thyrotoxicosis. As early intervention is associated with improved patient outcome, prompt diagnosis based on clinical grounds is of paramount importance in the management of thyrotoxicosis. A high index of suspicion and the ability of early recognition of impending thyroid storm depends on a thorough knowledge of both the typical and atypical clinical features of this illness. Herein, we report a case of thyroid storm presenting as cardiopulmonary failure in a 51-year-old woman with undiagnosed Grave’s disease. Additionally, we review the pathophysiology of cardiopulmonary failure associated with thyrotoxicosis and various treatment modalities for thyroid storm.

Pasteurella multocida infection is most commonly associated with the immunocompromised, mostly in the form of soft-tissue infection, although other sites of infection are still possible and have been reported in the immunocompetent. We report a case of an immunocompetent male with a history of exposure to carrier organisms without portal of entry who developed P. multocida pneumonia with bacteremia. We undertook a focused review of literature of previously reported cases of P. multocida pneumonia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This literature review supports the use of penicillins as the first line of treatment over macrolides. Considering the high mortality rates with P. multocida bacteremia, it is important for clinicians to maintain a high level of suspicion for this organism in any patient with a history of carrier species exposure.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients receiving tacrolimus as part of their immunosuppressive regimen is a rarely reported adverse event. We report a patient with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and no known history of diabetes mellitus who presented with DKA, 3 months after kidney transplantation.

The main finding of our analyses is that the size of myocardial infarct detected on CMR is positively correlated to admission hyperglycemia in patients with AMI. The clinical importance of this study lies in the accurate assessment of prognostic value of admission glucose, which would help clinicians in risk stratification and treatment decision-making.

Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) is a systemic autoinflammatory disease characterized by symptoms including spiking fever, arthralgia, myalgia, maculopapular rash, and pharyngitis. The lack of diagnostic biomarker, non-specific clinical presentation, and the rarity of AOSD often result in a significant delay in diagnosis and treatment. While the average time of initial presentation to diagnosis is four months, we present a case of AOSD diagnosis three years after initial onset of classical symptoms. By reporting the case of delayed diagnosis for AOSD, we hope to raise awareness in our medical community about the diagnostic difficulty in AOSD. The present case describes an otherwise healthy male who presented with typical symptoms of AOSD, but the diagnosis of AOSD was missed during his first presentation. In the second flaring episode, the diagnosis of AOSD was established. He had an excellent therapeutic response to anakinra and prednisone during the acute flaring episode. He is currently in complete remission on methotrexate as maintenance therapy.

Hyperuricemia has been recently speculated to be associated with the development of atrial fibrillation (AF). A meta-analysis of observational studies was conducted to explore the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and AF. We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases and performed extensive bibliography search to identify studies with mean SUA level for patients with and without AF. Key search terms were "atrial fibrillation" and "uric acid." Under the random-effects model, the pooled standardized difference in means between patients with and without AF was calculated. A total of 24 studies with 30,609 patients were included for quantitative analyzation of the difference in SUA levels between the patients with and without AF. The SUA level of patients with atrial AF was found to be significantly higher compared with those without AF (standardized difference in means = 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.43-0.88; P < 0.0001). The mean SUA level of patients with AF significantly is higher than those without AF.