Scot Med J
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Observational Study
Optical coherence tomography: assessment of coronary artery disease and guide to percutaneous coronary intervention.
Angiographic guidance for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has significant limitations in interpretation. The superior spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) can provide meaningful clinical benefits, although limited data is available on Asian populations. This study aimed to determine whether OCT can provide additional advantages and useful clinical information beyond that obtained by angiography alone in decision making for PCI. ⋯ The main OCT benefit is in borderline lesions on CA, in whom OCT identifies significant coronary stenosis and leads to PCI indication in patients. In the post-PCI context, OCT leads to an indication of PCI optimisation in half of the coronary lesions.
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Spontaneous oesophagus rupture, also known as Boerhaave syndrome, is a rare but near-fatal medical condition and despite recent medical advancements, it remains a diagnostic challenge for front-door clinicians. The authors describe a similar presentation in an elderly gentleman who presented to the emergency department with sudden chest pain post vomiting. His initial chest radiograph showed bilateral dense consolidations and pleural effusions, and was treated as sepsis secondary to bilateral pneumonia. ⋯ His care was transferred to Surgical and Intensive care colleagues with plans for radiological chest drain insertion to limit contamination of mediastinum, however the patient became hypoxic and hypotensive and despite maximal organ support passed away within 6 hours of admission. Retrospect review of chest radiograph revealed Peri-oesophageal air tracking, a sign of Boerhaave syndrome. The aim of this case is to emphasise the importance of raising the suspicion of Boerhaave syndrome in patients with sudden chest pain, unexplained pleural effusion or pneumothorax with a history of recent vomiting as early diagnosis holds the key to prompt lifesaving management.
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To assess the incidence of underlying colorectal malignancy in patients admitted as an emergency with a CT diagnosis of acute diverticulitis and determine the need for routine follow up colonoscopy. ⋯ Nowadays, multi-slice CT scanners are so good at giving an accurate assessment of colonic pathology. In our study, 96.6% of the patients with a CT diagnosis of acute diverticulitis had no underlying malignancy in the diseased segment with all the cancers within complicated diverticulitis. With such a low yield of underlying malignancy in uncomplicated diverticulitis, we question the need for routine follow up colonoscopy when there is no CT suspicion of malignancy in these patients.
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Case Reports
Diagnostic challenge of soft tissue extranodal Hodgkin lymphoma in core-needle biopsy: case report.
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is an uncommon malignancy usually limited to the lymph nodes and lymphatic system while extranodal involvement is much less common than in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The current report presents an unusual case of primary classical HL (cHL), nodular sclerosis type with mixed cellularity in buttock soft tissue of 78-year old man. ⋯ In addition, to this unusual extranodal presentation, the present case highlight a diagnostic challenge in fine-needle biopsy masquerading a low grade sarcoma, primarily myxoinflammatory fibrosarcoma or an inflammatory lesion. However, surgical biopsy and immunohistochemistry guided correct diagnosis that was of major interest for further successful treatment.