Schweizerische Rundschau für Medizin Praxis = Revue suisse de médecine Praxis
-
This 27 year old woman had thoracic pain associated with breathing and movements for 10 months. Later on she complained about productive cough and fever. A pleural effusion developed. ⋯ A thoracoscopy was performed yielding epithelioid granulomas in the biopsy specimen from the pleura. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was grown from the pleural fluid. Symptoms subsided rapidly and the patient became well shortly after institution of anti-tuberculous therapy with a combination of three drugs.
-
In cardiovascular emergency medicine echocardiography allows in many patients a quick and gentle bedside examination. In particular in patients with acute arterial hypotension, suspected or known acute coronary heart disease and its complications and in patients with acute heart failure due to valvular heart disease a valuable narrowing down of the differential diagnosis can be achieved by the use of echocardiography. However, the use of echocardiography in acutely ill patients demands highly skilled investigators to avoid potentially dangerous errors. The echocardiographic examination in intensive or emergency care patients represents an invaluable diagnostic tool today and becomes a toy only in inexperienced hands.