The American journal of emergency medicine
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Lung cancer is one of the most common neoplasms associated with cardiac metastasis, and the pericardium is often affected. However, isolated myocardial involvement in these patients is very uncommon. ⋯ Myocardial metastasis rarely mimics an acute myocardial infarction. We report a case of a 59-year-old man with a metastatic lung cancer into the myocardium mimicking an acute myocardial infarction.
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We report a rare case presenting with up to 50 episodes of syncopes per day in a 54-year-old man with the ultimate diagnosis of idiopathic glossopharyngeal neuralgia. All episodes were started with a severe pain sensation in the right side of the throat followed by asystole and then very slow ventricular escape beats. The patient was successfully treated with the combination of carbamazepine, gabapentin, and dual-chamber pacemaker implantation.
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Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is a clinico-neuroradiologic entity with typical symptoms and symmetric high-signal intensity lesions in the bilateral parietooccipital lobes on T2-weighted or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging. In this presentation, we report a case of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome who was admitted to our emergency department because of seizure and deterioration of consciousness. The aim of this presentation is to alert the emergency physicians about one of the hypertensive emergencies with neurologic symptoms associated with hypertension.
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Case Reports
ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in a 37-year-old man with normal coronaries--it is not always cocaine!
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. With the increase in substance abuse, the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (MI) in younger population has been on the rise. Traditionally, cocaine has been blamed for acute MI; however, recently, there have been more incidences of marijuana as an inciting factor. We present a case of marijuana-induced acute MI and discuss the proposed mechanism.
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Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rt-PA) is the only established thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. However, secondary embolism after IV rt-PA for acute ischemic stroke is recognized as an uncommon complication, and the pathophysiology is unclear. ⋯ Because the patient has paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (Af), the possible embolic sources may come from fragmentation of pre-existing intra-atrial clot. Although Af and the presence of cardiac thrombus are not contraindication for IV rt-PA in acute ischemic stroke, our case and review suggested that the administration of IV rt-PA to patients with known Af and intracardiac thrombus could represent a particular risk situation and should be carefully evaluated.