Acute hyperlipidemic pancreatitis in a pregnant woman.

Background: Acute pancreatitis is a serious complication during pregnancy, however the incidence of hyperlipidemia induced by pancreatitis is lower.

Methods: We treated a pregnant woman with hypertriglyceridemia-associated acute gestational pancreatitis who simultaneously developed hypoxemic acute respiratory failure (ARF).

Results: The woman was successfully treated through noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV), emergent caesarean delivery, drainage of chylous ascites, and peritoneal lavage.

Early tracheotomy for acute severe asthma.

Background: Few studies have reported the effects of early tracheotomy in acute severe asthmatic patients. We report two patients with acute severe asthma who were successfully treated with early tracheotomy.

Methods: The two patients with acute severe asthma were retrospectively reviewed.

Short QT syndrome: a case report and review of literature.

The short QT syndrome has been recently recognised as a genetic ion channel dysfunction. This new clinical entity is associated with an incidence of sudden cardiac death, syncope, and atrial fibrillation in otherwise healthy individuals. The distinctive ECG pattern consists of an abnormally short QT interval, a short or even absent ST segment and narrow T waves.