AI Article Synopsis

  • A 67-year-old woman showed signs of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss, leading to a diagnosis of paraneoplastic Cushing's syndrome caused by small lung cancer.
  • Tests indicated high cortisol levels and low potassium, while the patient also experienced severe seizures despite taking several anti-epileptic drugs.
  • The treatment involved using continuous etomidate infusion to reduce cortisol levels, highlighting how understanding medication side effects can help in managing complex medical conditions.

Article Abstract

A 67-year-old female presented with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and unintentional weight loss. Further work-up revealed elevated serum cortisol, hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis in the setting of paraneoplastic Cushing's syndrome secondary to small lung cancer. The patient then developed refractory convulsive epileptic seizure despite being on multiple anti-epileptic medications. Here, we present a unique case where continuous etomidate infusion was used to lower serum cortisol, as adrenal insufficiency is associated with etomidate use. This case emphasizes how drug side effects can be used to achieve a desired treatment outcome.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11469216PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.69193DOI Listing

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