Der Internist
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Case Reports
[Dyspnea on exertion, angina pectoris and loud buzzing in the right groin in an 82-year-old man].
We report on the case of an 82-year-old man who was suffering from chest pain and dyspnea. Acute cardiac ischemia could be excluded. ⋯ Apparently, these symptoms were caused by a high output heart failure with known coronary heart disease. The patient was treated by implantation of prosthesis and oversewing the fistula which led to full recovery.
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The number of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations is continuously increasing. On the one hand reduced intensity conditioning and improved supportive therapies allow for transplantations in patients with significant comorbidities and up to their eighth decade of life. ⋯ Recent developments in general critical care such as sepsis bundles and non-invasive ventilation contribute to a better outcome of these patients. However, treatment algorithms that identify patients potentially benefitting from intensive care but also reduce overtreatment of moribund patients represent a central multidisciplinary challenge not only for the treating transplant physician and intensivist.
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Herbal medicines are popular. It is frequently assumed that they are effective and safe. Sound knowledge of existing, or lacking, data on the efficacy and safety is required for advice and for the decision whether or not to use a particular herbal drug. ⋯ Overall, although knowledge about herbal drugs has grown in recent years, it is generally still unsatisfactory. The active recommendation to use an herbal drug is usually not advisable. However, a patient's request for a licensed herbal drug may be acceptable if there is no conventional concomitant comedication that is known or expected to interact, no contra-indication, and no other (conventional) treatment with better, or better known, benefit-risk ratio.
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The use of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) testing in routine laboratory screening and testing of TSH before administration of contrast medium, resulted in an increased number of incidentally detected elevated TSH levels. In the case of slightly increased values in asymptomatic patients, repeated measurement of TSH is recommended for confirmation. ⋯ In subclinical hypothyroidism it remains unclear at which TSH levels the initiation of substitution therapy makes sense. In the case of simultaneously elevated peripheral thyroid hormones rare diseases, such as secondary hyperthyroidism and thyroid hormone resistance should be considered.