Internal medicine
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A 59-year-old man undergoing hemodialysis was administered levetiracetam, after which he developed a systemic rash, high fever, severe liver dysfunction, and leukocytopenia with reactivation of human herpes virus 6. Atypical drug-induced hypersensitivity (DIHS) was diagnosed, and prednisolone was administered at 60 mg/day. ⋯ Despite the rarity of DIHS with concomitant fulminant liver failure from levetiracetam and sufficient clearance thereof by hemodialysis, our case suggests that this syndrome may still ensue, resulting in mortality, even in hemodialysis patients. Although no treatment has yet been established, strict monitoring and aggressive treatment may be required.
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Case Reports
Status Cataplecticus with Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Excess in Late-onset Narcolepsy Type 1.
A 57-year-old man presented with difficulty speaking and walking along with increased daytime somnolence. His symptoms fluctuated throughout the day but never completely disappeared. A neurological examination revealed mild dysarthria, limb weakness, and staggering gait. ⋯ Human leukocyte antigen testing demonstrated DQB1*0602 positivity. His neurological symptoms were relieved by clomipramine. Thus, he was diagnosed with late-onset narcolepsy type 1 with status cataplecticus.
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Case Reports
Liver Biopsy-confirmed Primary Hepatic Amyloidosis with Only Jaundice as the Initial Symptom: An Autopsy Case Report.
Amyloidosis causes various symptoms in many organs of the body, but amyloidosis that presents with liver damage alone has never been reported. We treated an 83-year-old man with amyloidosis who presented with liver damage alone. ⋯ The administration of bortezomib and dexamethasone was not effective, so he rapidly died of liver failure. An aggressive liver biopsy should be considered when unexplained jaundice is observed.
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The patient was a 34-year-old woman who suddenly collapsed. On arrival, she was in cardiac arrest. Cardiac ultrasound revealed cardiac tamponade; thus, urgent thoracotomy with pericardiotomy was performed. ⋯ There were no signs of cardiac rupture, myocardial infarction or aortic dissection. We reported the first case of fatal bloody cardiac tamponade due to pericardial IMT in an adult. An autopsy is important for clarifying the etiology in cases of fatal cardiac tamponade of unknown cause.
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Objective The survival advantage of females over males is lost in dialysis patients in many countries. Japanese female hemodialysis patients, however, have a survival advantage over their male counterparts. This study explored causes of death that contribute to sex differences in all-cause mortality in Japanese dialysis patients. ⋯ Death from infectious disease, malignancy, and heart failure contributed to 38.4%, 22.7%, and 12.1%, respectively, of the male-to-female difference in all-cause mortality of dialysis patients. Conclusion Low cardiovascular mortality in younger age categories and low non-cardiovascular mortality in older age categories contributed to the survival advantage of female Japanese dialysis patients. Infectious disease was the greatest contributor to sex differences in all-cause mortality.