Internal medicine
-
Case Reports
Cerebellar hemorrhage provoked by combined use of nattokinase and aspirin in a patient with cerebral microbleeds.
Nattokinase is used as a health-promoting medicine for preventing thrombosis due to its fibrinolytic activity. Cerebral microbleed is remnant of blood extravasations from the damaged vessels related to cerebral microangiopathies. ⋯ In addition to the hemorrhagic lesion, multiple microbleeds were demonstrated on brain MR images. We suggest that nattokinase may increase risk of intracerebral hemorrhage in patients who have bleeding-prone cerebral microangiopathy and are receiving other antithrombotic agent at the same time.
-
Case Reports
Successful treatment of intravascular large B-cell lymphoma diagnosed by bone marrow biopsy and FDG-PET scan.
Early diagnosis of intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is difficult, but is critical for longer survival for the patients. We report a case of IVLBCL that was diagnosed with the help of FDG-PET. A 76-year-old woman was referred to us for the evaluation of her elevated serum LDH. ⋯ FDG-PET imaging showed increased uptake of FDG in the vertebra, bilateral femurs, sternum, and iliac bones. A diagnosis of IVLBCL was made by bone marrow biopsy. She was successfully treated with rituximab and modified CHOP therapy.
-
A 72-year-old man patient was referred to our institution for evaluation and treatment of right pleural effusion. Eosinophilic pleural effusion and peripheral eosinophilia were identified during the course of hospitalization. Pulmonary paragonimiasis was confirmed by the presence of paragonimus-specific IgG antibodies for Paragonimus (P.) westermani and P. miyazakii in his serum. ⋯ Postmortem examination revealed malignant mesothelioma of the sarcomatous type encasing the right lung and heart. Cardiac involvement accompanied with old and recent-onset myocardial ischemic changes resulted in death of this patient. Here, we report a very rare case of malignant mesothelioma with a concomitant infection of parasitic lung fluke.
-
A 40-year-old man developed weakness and myalgia of the shoulders and brachia nine hours after eating a cowfish (Umisuzume, Lactoria diaphana). A clinical symptom showed rhabdomyolysis and serum creatine phosphokinase was elevated to 180,000 IU/L on day 3. ⋯ Cerebral death was diagnosed on day 9 and the patient died on day 16. The case has the characteristic clinical course of palytoxin poisoning, which has also been reported as blue humphead parrotfish poisoning from other kinds of fish.
-
Isolated left ventricular noncompaction (ILVNC) is a rare congenital cardiomyopathy characterized by numerous excessive trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses. To date, the clinical features and genetic causes of ILVNC remain unclear. Here, we report the clinical presentation and genetic analysis of a five generation Chinese family with ILVNC. ⋯ A single Chinese family with ILVNC associated with HCM is reported; no mutations in TAZ, DTNA, LDB3, LMNA and FKBP12 was found.