Unlabelled: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) is an uncommon and misunderstood disease, where little is known regarding its immunopathogenesis and appropriate treatment. Due to the constellation of nonspecific clinical features and imaging findings, PACNS is a diagnostic conundrum for clinicians and can be very difficult to treat.
Case Presentation: A 64-year-old male with a history of prostate cancer presented to the emergency department with expressive aphasia and severe headache.
We present a case of a 47-year-old female patient with a history of diagnosed Kikuchi disease and autoimmune hepatitis 13 years ago who presented with recurrent fevers and a desquamative rash on the lower extremities. Computed tomography neck showed enlarged lymph nodes, and with her daily fevers and skin rashes the presentation was concerning for recurrence of her Kikuchi disease. The patient was also found to have an elevated anti-smooth muscle antibody titer, and subsequent liver biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Aortitis can be an initial presentation of many diseases, but most often include large cell vasculitis.
Case Presentation: We present a case of a 53 year old female who presented with a myriad of symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea, fever, and headaches. CT scan of the chest showed an inflamed aorta with an initial concern for a large cell vasculitis, but found later to be from her underlying acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Sarcoidosis is a disease with unknown aetiology and pathogenesis which affects young adults and is usually a non-necrotizing granulomatous disease seen in histology. Variants of the disease, such as necrotizing sarcoidosis, were first described by Liebow in 1973 and are rarely seen. This case report describes the case of a 60-year-old Bengali female who presented with vague symptoms and was found to have chronic granulomatous inflammation with foci of calcifications involving the lungs, liver and spleen consistent with necrotizing sarcoidosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough IgG4-RD has CNS manifestations, cerebellar involvement has only been reported in three cases. Our patient presented with cerebellar symptoms, several cerebellar infarcts were evident on the brain MRI, and CT abdomen revealed retroperitoneal tumor. Endoscopic biopsy confirmed IgG4-RD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Investig Med High Impact Case Rep
March 2022
The immunization against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) via vaccination serves as a significant milestone in the fight against the pandemic. Rapid introduction of various COVID-19 vaccines to stem the spread of virus has researchers scrambling to document the adverse effects left in its wake. Thus far, there have been singular examples of cutaneous vasculitis associated with COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe practice of heating heroin and inhaling its vapors, commonly referred to as "chasing the dragon" has been around for decades, but only gained popularity in the United States in the 1990s. Since then, there have been many documented cases of heroin-induced leukoencephalopathy (HIL) and takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC). This case highlights a patient with a history of heroin inhalation who presented with multiple neurological features, including bilateral upper and lower extremity weakness, blurry vision and slurred speech.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Med Surg (Lond)
September 2021
Endocarditis is an infection of the endocardium caused by a multitude of bacteria, including , viridans streptococci, S. bovis, or S. epidermidis, among others.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Med Surg (Lond)
August 2021
Background: Chilaiditi's sign is often found incidentally on chest or abdominal radiograph and can be accompanied by clinical symptoms such as abdominal pain, gastrointestinal complications, and less commonly associated with dyspnea.
Case Presentation: In this interesting case, we discover lingering dyspnea in our 79 year old male with a past medical history of asthma and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction admitted for acute heart failure exacerbation with reduced ejection fraction along with a new incidental finding of Chilaiditi's sign on chest radiograph. Patient received optimal diuretics and guideline-directed medical treatment for heart failure exacerbation, but mild dyspnea with pleuritic chest pain persisted.
Subclavian steal syndrome is a rare phenomenon occurring from retrograde blood flow in the vertebral artery due to proximal stenosis in the subclavian artery. As a result, the arm gets blood supply from the vertebral artery at the expense of the vertebrobasilar system. The patient remains largely asymptomatic until there is an increase demand for blood supply to the arm, resulting in a constellation of symptoms including dizziness, vertigo, blurred vision, diplopia, headache, syncope, postural hypotension, neurologic deficits, and rarely, memory problems.
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