Internal medicine
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A 44-year-old woman presented with a 3-month history of back pain, gait disturbance, and insomnia. She had moon face and central obesity but no goiter. Cushing's syndrome due to left adrenal adenoma was diagnosed. ⋯ She developed Graves' disease nine months postoperatively and was treated with methimazole. Excess glucocorticoids followed by their withdrawal may influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis and immune system. Therefore, a careful evaluation of the thyroid function and antibodies is important after surgery for Cushing's syndrome.
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Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) while using an angiogenesis inhibitor is relatively rare. A 70-year-old Asian man was diagnosed with PVT two months after initiating 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin, irinotecan, and bevacizumab therapy for rectal cancer with liver metastases. ⋯ Eight months later, the complete dissolution of the thrombus and recanalization of the portal vein were attained. Our case suggests that PVT can occur during bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy, and DOAC therapy might be beneficial for treating PVT in patients with cancer.
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A 73-year-old man previously treated with rituximab for his mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma suffered a suboptimal humoral immune response against an acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection. A detailed serological description revealed discrepant antigen-specific humoral immune responses. ⋯ Accordingly, viral neutralizability and clearance was delayed, leading to prolonged RNAemia and persistent pneumonia. The present case highlights the need to closely monitor this unique population of recipients of B-cell-targeted therapies for their neutralizing antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2.
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Hyperkalemia is a challenging comorbidity to manage in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease, particularly when administering renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors. We encountered an 88-year-old woman with hypertensive heart failure and chronic kidney disease. A mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist was able to be safely administered despite persistent hyperkalemia when sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, a non-absorbed, non-polymer zirconium silicate compound that preferentially exchanges hydrogen and sodium for potassium and ammonium ions in the gastrointestinal tract, was concomitantly administered. Sodium zirconium cyclosilicate might be a promising therapeutic tool to use in order to administer mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist safely in patients with heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and hyperkalemia.
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Case Reports
Tracheobronchopathia Osteochondroplastica Associated with Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease.
Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TPO) is a very rare, benign disorder involving the lumen of the trachea-bronchial tree. However, its etiology is unknown. ⋯ We believe that our cases suggest a common pathogenetic relationship between TPO and fibrotic interstitial lung disease. TGF-β is likely a common factor in the pathogenesis of TPO and fibrotic interstitial lung disease.