International journal of cardiology
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Letter Case Reports
Hymenoptera sting-induced Kounis syndrome: effects of aspirin and beta-blocker administration.
Kounis syndrome is the concurrence of acute coronary syndromes with conditions associated with activation of interacting inflammatory cells including allergic or hypersensitivity and anaphylactic or anaphylactoid insults. It is caused via inflammatory mediators released during inflammatory cell activation. A variety of conditions, drugs, and environmental exposures can induce Kounis syndrome. ⋯ This was followed by retrosternal pain, chest discomfort and electrocardiographic changes compatible with acute myocardial ischemia. Cardiac enzymes, troponins and blood pressure remained normal but serum tryptase was raised. The clinical implications and pathophysiology of this rare association are discussed.
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Letter Case Reports
Thiamine deficiency as a rare cause of reversible severe pulmonary hypertension.
In developed countries, the incidence of cardiac beriberi is rare. It can lead to high output cardiac failure and pulmonary hypertension. We hereby report an atypical case of beriberi heart with reversible right heart failure and severe pulmonary hypertension. Thiamine deficiency can cause reversible pulmonary hypertension, and it must be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with high risk of nutritional deficiency.
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Letter Case Reports
Acute myocardial infarction following blunt chest trauma due to sea traffic accident.
Myocardial infarction as a complication of blunt chest trauma has been reported most commonly in victims of car accidents. Other cases have been very rarely reported. To our knowledge, sea traffic accident as the cause of coronary artery injury has not been described. The authors report on a rare case of acute anterior wall myocardial infarction in a 60-year-old woman following blunt chest trauma caused by sea traffic accident.
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Letter Case Reports
Aortic dissection complicating pregnancy following prophylactic aortic root replacement in a woman with Marfan syndrome.
Prophylactic aortic root replacement is the main factor explaining the increase in median probability of survival in Marfan syndrome (MFS) patients. In women with MFS, earlier root replacement has been suggested as a strategy to facilitate safe pregnancy. However, in this case report a pregnant patient with MFS who sustained a Type B aortic dissection in her second trimester, with fatal outcome, despite having had a prophylactic aortic root replacement five months prior to conception is described.