Dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) are rare vascular abnormalities that can present with diverse neurological symptoms. We report a case of a woman in her early 60s who presented with pain in the left ear and dizziness. Neurological evaluation and imaging studies revealed a DAVF in the left cerebellopontine angle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease involving multiple organs with predominantly pulmonary manifestations. Severe thrombocytopenia is a relatively rare hematologic manifestation of sarcoidosis. Immune thrombocytopenia is usually characterized by excessive antibody production leading to platelet destruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis, while rare, is a disease that can have several extrapulmonary manifestations. One such known extrapulmonary manifestation of disseminated TB is vertebral osteomyelitis, often referred to as "Pott's Disease." We present the case of a patient who underwent back surgery with allogenic bone graft who developed vertebral osteomyelitis and subsequently had disseminated tuberculosis, from an infected bone graft.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWilms tumor, one of the most common childhood malignancies, is typically treated with a combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical resection. Wilms tumor survivors who received radiation therapy are, however, at a higher risk of secondary malignancies and need vigilant monitoring. We present the case of a 35-year-old female with history of Wilms tumor at age five, who received radiation therapy for pulmonary metastasis, and was found to have breast cancer at the age of 35.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCOVID-19 is a respiratory viral illness that can have life threatening complications. While the short-term sequela of COVID-19, including cytokine storm, is relatively well known, the long-term complications of COVID-19 infection on the immune system is still unknown. There have been some reported cases of autoimmune disease development after COVID-19 infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSarcoidosis is a multi-organ autoimmune disease that affects females more than males. While primarily considered as a disease of the young, very few cases of sarcoidosis have been reported in patients over 65 years old. We report the case of sarcoidosis in an 80-year-old female and ultimately died from sarcoidosis-related complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe consumption of herbal supplements has become increasingly popular the United States. One such herbal supplement that is available at pharmacies and grocery stores is nattokinase. Nattokinase, a byproduct of soybean fermentation, may have some thrombolytic properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmune thrombocytopenic purpura is a disorder characterized by decreased platelet count that may be secondary to infectious or autoimmune etiologies. We present a patient with upper gastrointestinal bleeding complicated by severe thrombocytopenia. Endoscopy revealed gastritis with pathology positive for .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a rare cause of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) and infection after fracture fixation (IAFF). We present a case of a patient who developed associated IAFF three weeks after his fracture fixation. Due to its slow-growing nature, surgical cultures remained negative after 72 hours and grew only on day 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficacy of over the counter probiotics has been an area of scientific debate. While the benefits of probiotics are heavily disputed, probiotics are considered generally safe. We present a case of a liver cirrhosis patient, who presented with hepatic encephalopathy.
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