Fatal accelerated rejection with a prominent natural killer cell infiltrate in a heart transplant recipient with peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Accelerated rejection is uncommon after cardiac transplantation. The mechanism is hypothesized to be mediated by cytotoxic T cells and anti-HLA antibodies resulting from a memory response to the donor allograft in sensitized patients. A role for Natural Killer (NK) cell in cellular rejection has also been suggested.

Normonatremic osmotic demyelination in the setting of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and malnutrition: case report and literature review.

In this report, we present the case of a 43-year-old woman with AIDS, disseminated aspergillosis, and malnutrition who developed osmotic demyelination syndrome. AIDS-related osmotic demyelination has only been documented in a handful of cases to date, and it appears independent of the classic mechanism of rapid correction of hyponatremia. In this manuscript, we review the six prior cases of osmotic demyelination in AIDS patients and compare their circumstances to that of our own patient.

Fatal Catecholamine-Induced Cardiotoxicity Associated with Pheochromocytoma: Report of a Postpartum Case and Review of the Literature.

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are catecholamine-secreting tumors characterized by excessive adrenergic stimulation. Common manifestations include hypertension, headache, sweating, and palpitations; however, rare life-threatening conditions have also been reported and include cardiovascular shock, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and cardiomyopathy. We report a case of a previously healthy 31-year-old postpartum female presenting with headache who died suddenly in an emergency room.

The Pituitary Gland: An Infrequent but Multifaceted Contributor to Death.

The pituitary gland has an important role in homeostasis and disorders of it can result in endocrine dysfunction and/or produce mass effect on surrounding structures, including the hypothalamus, which can cause significant morbidity and mortality. A definitive clinical diagnosis may be delayed or remain elusive and lead to life-threatening conditions. Specifically, pituitary adenomas, pituitary necrosis, hypophysitis, and abscesses have all been reported in the literature to cause sudden and unexpected death and may only be first encountered at autopsy.

Lymph node content of supraclavicular and thoracodorsal-based axillary flaps for vascularized lymph node transfer.

Objective: Microvascular transfer of lymph node flaps has recently gained popularity as a treatment for secondary lymphedema often occurring after axillary, groin, or pelvic lymph node dissections. This study aimed to delineate the lymph node contents and pedicle characteristics of the supraclavicular (SC) and thoracodorsal (TD)-based axillary flaps as well as to compare lymph node quantification of surgeon vs pathologist.

Methods: SC and TD flaps were dissected from fresh female cadavers.

Trauma-induced schwannoma of the recurrent laryngeal nerve after thyroidectomy.

Laryngeal schwannomas are rare, benign tumors, most often arising from the superior laryngeal nerve. We describe a case of a 68-year-old female with a laryngeal schwannoma of the recurrent laryngeal nerve after traumatic injury. We postulate that trauma to the recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroidectomy or thyroplasty incited growth of a nerve sheath tumor.

Feasibility of the internal mammary lymph node flap as a vascularized lymph node transfer: A cadaveric dissection study.

Background: We performed cadaveric dissections to examine the feasibility of an internal mammary-based lymph node flap as a donor site for vascularized lymph node transfer.

Methods: Internal mammary vessels and adjacent nodes were dissected in ten fresh cadaver specimens. Surgeon inspection and palpation identified the number of nodes in the specimen.