Internal medicine
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Although endothelin receptor antagonists (ERAs) and phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors have become the most commonly used treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) since their introduction in 2005, it remains unknown whether these medications play a significant role in the survival of Japanese patients with PAH. ⋯ Superior survival rates are observed in patients with idiopathic and heritable PAH after introduction of ERAs and PDE5 inhibitors, and the use of these drugs provides benefits for survival.
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We report a 76-year-old man with paradoxical cerebral air embolism. He developed consciousness disturbance and left hemiparesis after a postural change in rehabilitation. ⋯ We considered the reason to be that a small amount of air entered, and the Valsalva-like maneuver with the postural change moved air into arterial circulation through the RL shunt and embolized a brain artery. The present case showed that even a small amount of air in the venous circulation may become a potential risk for cerebral air embolism, especially in the presence of a large RL shunt.
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Case Reports
An elderly patient who developed spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma during warfarin therapy.
Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) is an uncommon but clinically important disease, and delayed diagnosis of this condition can have severe consequences. General physicians should consider the possibility of SSEH when they encounter a patient with a sudden onset of unexplained cervical or back pain or subsequent radicular symptoms during anticoagulant therapy. Immediate magnetic resonance imaging is essential for early diagnosis. In this article, we present a rare case of an 80-year-old man who developed cervical SSEH during warfarin therapy.
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A 62-year-old man presented with general fatigue. He was diagnosed with septic shock and severe pneumonia. The sputum at admission yielded methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) strain and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strain. ⋯ Despite treatment with vancomycin, his pneumonia worsened and he died. At autopsy, many gram-positive cocci were observed in the lungs. The clinical presentation of our patient was different from typical CA-MRSA-mediated necrotizing pneumonia.
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Case Reports
Pulmonary arterial hypertension caused by treatment with dasatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia -critical alert-.
We present a case of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which is potentially related to treatment with dasatinib (Sprycel(®)). A 61-year-old woman, who had been treated with dasatinib for 27 months for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), visited our hospital complaining of dyspnea. In right heart catheterization, her mean pulmonary arterial pressure was 35 mmHg. ⋯ As notified by U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2011, we recommend routine cardiopulmonary evaluation before and during treatment with dasatinib in CML patients in terms of the adverse effects of PAH.