BMJ case reports
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It has been recognised for some time that many disorders such as vascular malformations, hypertension, collagen vascular diseases, tumours, eclampsia, central nervous system infection, bacterial endocarditis and blood dyscrasias can cause non-traumatic intracerebral haemorrhage in young adults. Factor XIII deficiency is a rare cause of intracranial bleed. The impressive clinical signs with bleeding starting in the neonatal period (prolonged bleeding from the umbilical cord), followed by severe, life-threatening episodes of intracranial haemorrhage should raise the clinical suspicion of factor XIII deficiency. ⋯ We are reporting here the clinical outcome of a young woman with intracranial bleed due to factor XIII deficiency. The patient was managed successfully with fresh frozen plasma transfusion and supportive treatments. The prophylactic substitution therapy of factor XIII (recombinant factor XIII, cryoprecipitate and fresh frozen plasma) enables patients to live normal lives, free from catastrophic bleeding episodes.
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A 30-year-old Caucasian woman, without significant medical history or immunosuppression, presented with a 7-day history of severe headache and neck pain. The patient was presumed to have tension headache versus migraine, but was admitted because her symptoms did not resolve. A lumbar puncture was performed showing lymphocytic pleocytosis suggestive of aseptic meningitis and the patient was started on broad-spectrum antibiotics and acyclovir. ⋯ Upon further history, patient was found to have previous varicella infection as a child, but no prior episodes of dermatomal zoster. Therefore, this patient was found to have aseptic meningitis and cutaneous manifestation of disseminated varicella-zoster despite immunocompetence. Antibacterial treatment was discontinued and she was continued on acyclovir for 7 days with transition to valacyclovir for 2 additional weeks with good treatment response and symptom resolution.
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Thiopentone sodium is one of the important drugs in the armamentarium for terminating refractory status epilepticus, a neurological emergency. We report a case of thiopentone-related bradycardia during the management of the new onset refractory status epilepticus in a young man, which was circumvented by prophylactic insertion of temporary pacemaker while thiopentone infusion was continued. A systematic approach was employed to manage the status epilepticus, including infusion of thiamine and glucose followed by antiepileptic drugs. ⋯ Propofol infusion was tried with no respite in seizures. Later thiopentone sodium was reintroduced after inserting temporary cardiac pacemaker. Seizure was controlled and patient was weaned off the ventilator.
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A 62-year-old woman with low back pain was eventually diagnosed with vertebral osteomyelitis after multiple visits to emergency, primary and specialty care. The absence of traditional 'red flags' from her history and examination serves as an important reminder that their absence does not necessarily reflect benign pathology.