1/3. Arterial occlusion causing large bowel infarction--a reflection of clotting diathesis in SLE.The patient, a 44-year old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus, (SLE), developed infarction of the bowel and spleen after occlusion of the inferior mesenteric and splenic arteries, necessitating colectomy and splenectomy. She had had previous cerebral thromboses and a lower limb deep vein thrombosis. Histological examination of the involved vessels showed the presence of thrombus only with the total absence of any vasculitis. The patient demonstrated antibodies to phospholipid - the "lupus anticoagulant" (LA) and antibodies to cardiolipin in serum, both strongly associated with thromboses.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and recurrent thromboembolism in siblings.Two brothers with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and multiple arterial and venous thromboembolism affecting peripheral vessels are described. heparin-dependent antiplatelet antibody was detected using platelet aggregometry in both patients. Although these observations may be coincidental, the possibility of familial occurrence of this adverse reaction to heparin cannot be excluded with certainty.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. Acute rubella retinal pigment epitheliitis in an adult.A 50-year-old man who had been taking betamethasone for 20 days experienced a slight bilateral decrease in visual acuity. There were localized dark-gray atrophic lesions at the posterior pole, accompanied by a diffuse detachment of the sensory retina. The retinal vessels appeared to be normal and only minimal anterior uveitis was present in the more severely affected eye. fluorescein angiograms showed no masking of choroidal fluorescence in the early phase and late-phase fluorescein angiograms showed multifocal leakage of the dye into the subretinal space. Electro-oculographic findings were abnormal only during the acute stage in the more severely affected eye and returned to normal within three months. The retinal detachment spontaneously resolved within three months; visual acuity returned to normal but some atrophic areas remained in the retinal pigment epithelium. Because the antibody titer to rubella was 1:1,028 during the acute stage but decreased to 1:257 within one month, we believe this patient had rubella retinitis, a rare condition in adults. The betamethasone may have made him more susceptible to the viral infection.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |