Toothpick in the porta: Recurrent liver abscesses secondary to transgastric migration of a toothpick with successful surgical exploration retrieval.

We present a rare case of a 72-year-old man with recurrent hepatic abscesses secondary to transgastric migration of a toothpick into the liver parenchyma and left portal venous branch. Prior to identification of the foreign body, the patient received multiple courses of antibiotics and underwent image-guided catheter placement without resolution of infection. Given his refractory abdominal pain, fevers, and chills, a repeat abdominal CT was obtained and demonstrated a radio-opaque object extending through the prepyloric gastric submucosa into the liver parenchyma and left portal vein.

Subaortic membrane mimicking hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

A 34-year-old man was referred for progressive angina and exertional dyspnoea refractory to medical therapy, with a presumptive diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed asymmetric septal hypertrophy without systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve leaflet and with no dynamic left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. However, the LVOT velocity was elevated at rest as well as with provocation, without the characteristic late peaking obstruction seen in HCM.