The American journal of the medical sciences
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Review Case Reports
COVID-19-Associated Suspected Myocarditis as the Etiology for Recurrent and Protracted Fever in an Otherwise Healthy Adult.
Current reports concerning cardiac involvement in the novel corona virus disease (COVID-19) mostly document acute myocardial injury at presentation. Here, we present a healthy young male, with presumed acute myocarditis, presenting 20 days after initial diagnosis of COVID-19 - and after a clinical, and apparent laboratory, resolution of the original episode. His sole substantial clinical finding upon admission was fever, which was followed by a witnessed elevation in troponin-I.
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Review Case Reports
A 65-year-old Woman With Persistent Dyspnea, Arthritis, and Raynaud's Phenomenon.
Antisynthetase syndrome (AS) is a rare disease that affects patients with inflammatory myopathies such as polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM). In patients with AS, up to 95% of patients develop antisynthetase syndrome-associated interstitial lung disease (AS-ILD). Although AS-ILD commonly occurs in patients with a well-established diagnosis of AS, it can be the first or only manifestation of an occult AS. ⋯ A diagnosis of AS-ILD resistant to corticosteroid therapy was made. Her lung function improved with combination therapy of mycophenolate and rituximab. Our case highlights that a detailed history and physical exam, compatible radiologic imaging, and autoantibodies are essential for the diagnosis of AS-ILD.
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The subpleural sparing pattern is a common finding on computed tomography (CT) of the lungs. It comprises of pulmonary opacities sparing the lung peripheries, typically 1cm and less from the pleural surface. This finding has a variety of causes, including idiopathic, inflammatory, infectious, inhalational, cardiac, traumatic, and bleeding disorders. ⋯ In addition, although the etiology of subpleural sparing pattern is frequently indistinguishable during an initial radiologic evaluation, the differences in location of opacities in the lungs, as well as the presence of additional radiologic findings, patient history, and clinical presentation, can often be useful to suggest the appropriate diagnosis. We did a comprehensive search on Pubmed and Google Scholar database using keywords of "subpleural sparing," "peripheral sparing," "sparing of peripheries," "CT chest," "chest imaging," and "pulmonary disease." This review aims to describe the primary differential diagnosis of subpleural sparing pattern seen on chest imaging with a strong emphasis on clinical and radiographic findings. We also discuss the pathogenesis and essential clues that are crucial to narrow the differential diagnosis.
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Review Case Reports
Medical Management of Advanced Oxalate Nephropathy Secondary to Gastric Bypass Surgery.
A 73-year-old Caucasian female with a history of obesity status post Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery presented with generalized weakness and was found to have acute kidney injury (AKI) with a creatinine peak of 9.1 mg/dL above her baseline of 1.2 mg/dL, and anemia with hemoglobin 5.7 g/dl. Kidney biopsy revealed oxalate nephropathy likely related to gastric bypass surgery four years prior. ⋯ Meaningful treatment strategies for this disease entity are lacking. We present a case in which dietary and pharmacological management without the use of renal replacement therapy resulted in stabilization of chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 for seven years at the time of this writing.