Postgraduate medical journal
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Two cases of jejunal strictures caused by Histoplasma capsulatum in AIDS patients are presented. Both patients were intravenous drug abusers. One patient, who was being treated for Pneumocystis carnii pneumonia, presented with jejunal perforation and the other presented with lower gastrointestinal bleeding and intestinal obstruction. ⋯ In areas where it is endemic, histoplasmosis is rarely disseminated. Dissemination is most commonly seen in immunosuppressed patients. Dissemination and extrapulmonary histoplasmosis is now included in the case definition of AIDS.
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Comparative Study
Unreliability of cardiothoracic ratio as a marker of left ventricular impairment: comparison with radionuclide ventriculography and echocardiography.
The size of the heart assessed by cardiothoracic ratio on chest radiography is often used as a screening test for the presence of heart failure and for assessing its severity. ⋯ Chest radiography is not a reliable indicator of the degree of left ventricular dysfunction. Echocardiography and radionuclide ventriculography are more appropriate investigations for assessing cardiac function.