1/3. calciphylaxis: case report and literature review.Tissue calcification is a well-recognized common metabolic disease, but calciphylaxis still remains an enigmatic rarity. The latter may be induced experimentally and acquired naturally in human diseases. Although many chronic azotemic or end stage renal disease patients (ESRD) with hyperparathyroidism (HPT) are at risk of calciphylaxis not all of them do develop the disease, even non-renal, patients may also develop this disease. Out of a total of about 2000 hemodialysis, 15,000 dermatology and 26,000 medical patients seen over a three year period in a busy Saudi Arabian tertiary medical centre, we report a sentinel nephrology patient with sudden excruciatingly painful cutaneous calciphylaxis that necessitated acute dermatology emergency consultation, and present a review of the medical literature. In order to institute appropriate total quality management of this life-threatening, rare disease, it is advisable that a high index of suspicion should be entertained by dermatologists, general physicians, nephrologists, and pulmonologists in an appropriate clinical scenario.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physician (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. "Osler's phenomenon": misdiagnosing Cushing's syndrome.The clinical manifestations of Cushing's syndrome can be quite variable and are frequently mistaken, with consequent delayed diagnosis and significant morbidity and mortality. Harvey Cushing described the typical signs and symptoms of Cushing's syndrome but unfortunately attributed the features to myxoedema. The first typical description of a patient with Cushing's syndrome was probably made by Sir William Osler in 1898. Thus delay or misdiagnosis with consequent high morbidity and mortality exemplifies the history of Cushing's syndrome. Four cases of Cushing's syndrome are described that were associated with deteriorating morbidity because of the considerable delay from first presentation to a secondary care physician to eventual diagnosis. The clinical diagnosis was delayed in all the four patients, although they had symptoms and signs that were missed by a number of primary and secondary care physicians. Trans-sphenoidal surgery resulted in biochemical cure as well as improvement in the accompanying co-morbidity. Although still rare, the prevalence of Cushing's syndrome is increasing. Increasing clinical awareness and the use of appropriate screening tests should facilitate earlier diagnosis with reduced morbidity and mortality. Although the syndrome is named after Harvey Cushing, Sir William Osler was probably the first to describe it. Therefore, in deference to Osler's contribution to Cushing's syndrome and the work of Harvey Cushing, it is suggested that to the list of the other eponymous conditions of Osler-Weber-Rendu and Osler's nodes, should be added the delay or misdiagnosis of Cushing's syndrome-"Osler's phenomenon".- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = physician (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. Retroperitoneal perforation of the colon caused by colonic tuberculosis: report of a case.We present a 25-year-old, hiv-negative patient from kosovo, with no significant past medical history, who was admitted to a local hospital for nonspecific upper abdominal discomfort. He was transferred to us after a retroperitoneal mass with contact to the right colonic flexure had been found during workup. colonoscopy demonstrated an edemateous area with a central fistula in the right flexure, and histology showed caseous necrosis. Although neither bacteriology nor histology could detect any germs, gastrointestinal tuberculosis seemed to be very probable. laparotomy with a segmental resection of the colon was performed to remove the fistula-bearing segment, and histologic examination of the resected specimen confirmed the intraoperative suspect of a retroperitoneal colonic perforation. Again, all cultures from the specimen were negative for tuberculosis, but polymerase chain reaction of a regional lymph node revealed acid-fast bacilli of the mycobacterium tuberculosis/bovis species. Although the patient had no other sites of tuberculosis infection like pulmonary or urinary, he received adjuvant standard tuberculosis treatment for six months. At control examination one year after the operation, the patient was free of recurrence and in very good general condition. We report this extremely rare presentation of gastrointestinal tuberculosis to sensitize physicians to tuberculosis again, because incidence rates are increasing and this disease will certainly play a more important role in the future.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physician (Clic here for more details about this article) |