The American journal of the medical sciences
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Editorial Review Historical Article
Death of a medical colossus: The course, cause and fatal outcome of Avicenna's colic.
Abu-'Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn-Sina (known in the West as Avicenna) is revered in much of Asia as one of history's greatest physicians. And yet, few westerners know of him, his iconic Canon of Medicine or the role he played in preserving ancient Greek medical knowledge following the sack of Rome. We briefly review Avicenna's impressive legacy and provide what to our knowledge is the first critical examination of the illness responsible for his death at age 58 years.
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Review Case Reports
Daptomycin-induced rhabdomyolysis complicated with acute gouty arthritis.
Rhabdomyolysis is a well-documented side effect of daptomycin and is associated with hyperuricemia. However, the occurrence of acute gouty arthritis secondary to rhabdomyolysis-induced hyperuricemia has not been reported. ⋯ Treatment consisted of fluid management with the addition of prednisone for gouty arthritis treatment given his poor kidney function. This report indicates the importance of early monitoring of creatine kinase levels in patients on daptomycin to prevent complications from rhabdomyolysis.
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Review
Portal vein thrombosis as the presenting manifestation of JAK2 positive myeloproliferative neoplasm.
Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a complication of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). However, DVTs in unusual sites such as portal vein thrombosis (PVT) are rare and may be the first clinical manifestation of occult MPNs. There is a need for increasing awareness of such manifestations; so, here we discuss a patient who presented with new portal vein thrombosis, underwent further studies, was ultimately diagnosed with JAK2 positive MPN, and started on appropriate treatment with improvement of thrombosis and controlled hematocrit.
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This study retrospectively analyzed the laboratory data and chest images of patients with amyopathic dermatomyositis associated with interstitial lung disease (ADM-ILD) and patients with other connective tissue disease-related ILDs (CTD-ILDs) to find a characteristic index for the early recognition of ADM-ILD and help clinicians consider the possibility of ADM-ILD as soon as possible. ⋯ ADM-ILD patients have higher serum LDH, AST and CK-MB levels, especially serum LDH levels, and are more prone to organizing pneumonia radiologic patterns on chest HRCT scans than other CTD-ILD patients. A high level of serum LDH with ILD may be a useful characteristic index for recognizing ADM-ILD.